The Rise of Honoogakure
by wordlessilence
Summary: Konoha has been destroyed. Join the Naruto gang as they rush to save Naruto from the failing seal and build a new nation, Leading to the final showdown with Otogakure. NaruSaku.
1. Dawn of a New Day

Well, this is my first time posting a story. This is original as far as I know. If anyone feels I've copied, just send me an email or something and we'll work something out. I admit that the beginning will have a lot of fluff, but later chapters should have more drama, fighting, possible lemon if I feel led that way, etc. This is my first one, so I'm trying all types of various things trying to get a feel for things. Any tips or ideas or comments are greatly appreciated. and with that, please enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto

**Chapter 1**: Dawn of a new day

As morning comes, and the first rays of sunlight pierce through the opening of a large tent, an emerald eyed kunoichi slowly starts to wake.

Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, she leans back to stretch her weary body. It had been a long night, a lot of injuries, a lot of deaths. She could remember the screams, the blood, and the tears that had been shed just hours ago. She reached up and wiped some of the dirt and dried blood from her face. She laughed to herself, remembering how she was one of the most desirable kunoichi in all of the village, but right now she didn't look like it.

The red sleeve-less top that she wore was tattered, and covered with dirt and blood. She wore black riding that was covered by a tan skirt which had pouches for her medical supplies, that were in the same condition. Her normally flower pink hair was now dark, knotted together with dried blood. She tried to clean herself up, but to no avail. She sighed, this wasn't her, normally she was a lot cleaner than this, this wasn't the normal Sakura Haruno.

Sakura shook her head, and decided to look around and see who else was in the tent, the make-shift hospital. In the far corner sat her rival, and her closest friend, Ino Yamanaka. Ino and Sakura had been very close, best friends actually, before being torn apart by a rivalry over a boy, Sasuke Uchiha. They fought constantly trying to get his attention, though he never cared. Eventually Sasuke had run away, leaving Konoha, leaving them. Since that time they both have become close again, forgetting their rivalry over someone that, they realized, never really deserved their love and care in the first place.

Ino sat near one of her comrades whom she had been desperately trying to save the night before. The boy, no, the man had tried to protect Ino. Ino desperately tried to save him, pouring all of her chakra into him. Eventually, she was able to stabilize his condition. In the process she claimed that she has grown to love him. Before passing out, Chouji was one of the happiest men on the planet. Now he laid unconscious in the cot next to Ino.

Behind Sakura sat her sensei, Tsunade, the Hokage of Konohagakure no sato. She was fast asleep next to a white haired old man, Jiraiya. Jiraiya and Tsunade were both a part of the Sannin, three of the most powerful shinobi in all the Hidden Villages. Jiraiya lay motionless, his body and face covered with bandages. Jiraiya had faced off against the other Sannin, Orochimaru. It had been a long fight, but Jiraiya finally came out on top, severing the snake sannin's head.

Looking at them, and remembering how Tsunade tried to save the perverted old Sannin, she knew that deep down Tsunade had deep feelings for him.

The only other person in the tent was the person she had tried to save, the person that had protected her, the person that deep down she had feeling for.

The blond haired shinobi laid pale, lifeless almost, his body covered with scars. Looking down at him with tears coming to her eyes as she remembered what had taken place just three days ago.

_--Flashback--_

_Naruto and Sakura ran towards the fighting brothers. Itachi and Sasuke were fighting to the death. Neither one clearly holding the upper hand. Both opponents seemed equal._

"_You've improved little brother, but you're still weak. It's time that I finished this reunion."_

"_You bluff, you're not that powerful."_

_Itachi's eyes changed, taking form of a shuriken, "Mangekyou Sharingan." _

_The battle immediately turned in Itachi's favor, Sasuke started losing. He could no longer keep up with his brother's movements. Itachi knocked the sword from Sasuke's hand and in one fluid motion pinned him to a wall by his throat. Sasuke struggled, trying to break free from his brothers hold, but to no avail. Sasuke looked into his brother's eyes, and noticed what looked like black fire dancing in his eyes._

_Naruto and Sakura had ducked behind a building about 40 yards away and were watching as their former companion was pinned hopelessly to a wall._

"_Naruto, we have to save Sasuke."_

"_Dammit, why is he losing! If he loses I'll kick his ass!"_

"_Naruto, baka, we're supposed to save Sasuke." Sakura elbowed Naruto in the ribs, somewhat calming the blond down._

"_Oh, right...Hey, I got an idea...I have a technique that Ero-Sannin taught me, thought I'm not supposed to use it because I haven't mastered it yet, that would let me save -teme"_

"_How can you use it if you haven't mastered it yet?"_

"_Well, I can use it, but if I do there's a possibility that I might hurt myself."_

"_Naruto...I don't think you should."_

"_I have to, we don't have a choice. And besides, I promised that I would bring Sasuke back to you. It's the promise of a lifetime, and I'll die before breaking a promise, especially to you Sakura-chan."_

"_Naruto..." Tears started to come to Sakura's eyes._

"_Well, here goes nothing." Naruto jumped out of his hiding place, with a strange kunai in his hands. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he threw it at Itachi._

_Itachi had his back towards the Konoha shinobi, and was about to finish off Sasuke, seeming to be completely unaware of their presence._

_As it neared Itachi, he moved his head and the kunai embedded itself into Sasuke's shoulder._

_Naruto started forming a Rasengan in his hand and...vanished._

_Sakura just stared, somewhat confused. 'What was that technique?'_

_She looked towards Itachi and Sasuke and saw Naruto standing in between the two._

_Itachi barely had anytime at all to react before Naruto finished the attack he had been forming._

"_Fuuton Rasengan!" Naruto rammed the glowing sphere into Itachi's stomach. Itachi winced from the pain, before a great wind knocked Sasuke and even Sakura (who wasn't even near them) a good distance away._

_Naruto stood in the center of a large crater, a deformed Itachi pinned underneath him. Cuts covered the Akatsuk's body, his body appeared as if it was ready to fall apart._

"_hOw, sO FaSt..."_

"_Shunshin no jutsu...My father, the Yondaime invented that technique to protect people who were precious to him...Sasuke is like a brother to me, and I won't let you hurt him anymore."_

_Naruto turned and started slowly walking towards Sasuke. A kunai was sticking out of his left shoulder, 'Heh, that was a little close, he almost got me.'_

_Sakura came running over to the blond shinobi, she immediately noticed the kunai. Naruto raised his hands and waved her off._

"_I'm fine...just a little tired, check Sasuke-teme."_

_Sakura stopped, and hit Naruto, hard across the top of his head._

"_Ow! Sakura-chan! What was that for?"_

"_Baka! Don't worry me like that! You could have...have...died" Sakura said, with tears streaking down her face. Naruto noticed she was staring at the kunai in his shoulder._

"_Ehhh! Sorry Sakura-chan, please don't cry!" Naruto reached his hands toward the kunoichi in an attempt to calm her, only to have his hands knocked away by the teary-eyed kunoichi._

"_No, stop. I have to tell you something. I should have told you a long time ago, back when we were with Yamato-taichou and Sai. I...I realized something. I know that you made that promise, but I don't want you to keep it. Not if it means that...that i might lose you."_

_Naruto just stood there with a confused look on his face._

"_Naruto...I...I..."_

"_You bastard." came a ragged voice from behind them._

_Sakura and Naruto turned to see Sasuke standing near them, sword drawn._

"_You killed my brother...you-you took my revenge from me...you made me look, WEAK!" Spitting the last word as if it were poison._

"_I'll make you pay, and you will pay dearly. I'll take your dreams, the things that you hold and want more than anything. And you will suffer, and I will exact my revenge upon you, and I'll start with her."_

_Sasuke turned toward Sakura, sword raised, and charged toward her._

_'Shit. I have to do something!'_

_Sakura stood there, confused, not knowing what was going on. She quickly shut her eyes, trying to make it all disappear. 'This isn't happening, I'm just imagining things. I'm tired, that's all.'_

_She opened her eyes and noticed Sasuke standing in front of her, swinging his sword at her. She brought her arms up and braced herself for the blow, and at the last second Naruto flashed in front her. The sword cut Naruto from his right shoulder down to his left hip, blood gushing from the open wound._

"_Naruto...NO!!!!"_

_Sasuke stared at Naruto, and in a rage, continued to hack into Naruto's back, Naruto just stood there, his blue eyes never breaking from their hold on Sakura.._

"_Naruto, Stop! Please!"_

"_I'm sorry Sakura-chan, but I can't. I won't let him hurt you. I'll die before I let him hurt you." Naruto flashed her a fox-like grin, before turning his head towards the Uchiha, "You hear that, you bastard. If you even look at her wrong, brother or not, I'll kill you."_

"_NARUTO!!!" Kakashi, Neji, and Shino were sprinting towards the three shinobi, kunai drawn, looks of shock and anger across their face._

"_Heh...well, this should be interesting then." Sasuke stood up, and wiped the blood from his face. " I'll spare you this time, but I will come back to finish this,it's the promise of a lifetime. Until then dobe."_

_Sasuke rammed the sword through Naruto's back, piercing through his stomach, "Chidori Nagashi!" Electricity pulsed from Sasuke's body, through his sword. Naruto's skin blackened, a strong smell of blood and burnt flesh immediately filling the air._

_Naruto screamed, Sakura was crying, and Sasuke vanished._

_--End Flashback--_

Sakura gently rolled Naruto over and checked his wounds. His back was covered by many scars, some places hadn't even healed yet, being held together by crude stitches. Naruto had never scarred before, the Kyuubi always healed him. It had always taken only one day for Naruto to completely heal. Sakura crudely wiped her tears away with her arm, as she gently laid Naruto back down. She didn't understand what was going on with Naruto, but she would do all she can to help him.

"Sakura, you should go get cleaned up, he'll be fine."

Sakura looked up to see Jiraiya looking at her, smiling through the various bandages around his head.

"He'll be ok. His healing has just slowed down because he's used up too much chakra. You and the other girls just go out and relax, I'll keep an eye on him and Chouji."

"Hai. Arigato Jiraiya-sama." Sakura bowed slightly to the Sannin, before going to wake up Ino and Tsunade. She quickly led the two groggy medics out of the tent and guided them towards the bath house that had been built. As the kunoichi left, the blond eyed shinobi opened one eye slightly and watched them walk away.

* * *

Sakura remembered how the bath house was made. Yamato-taichou used his Mokuton jutsu to create the bath house, and Jiraiya-sama used the last bit of his chakra to summon two toads to heat the water in the womens side and the mens. Konoha may be in a war, but people can still have to get cleaned up. After all, a clean and healthy ninja is better prepared to fight. At least, that was her excuse to go and take a long hot bath.

Konoha...it's seems like a dream. Well, more like a nightmare. Konoha is no more. It was destroyed in the war against the Sound and Akatsuki. There were a lot of injuries, a lot of deaths. Kurenai was among one of the many shinobi that died. Though, she passed with a smile. The last thing she said before she died was, "Asuma, I'm be there soon." She remembered watching Chouji defend Ino as she tried to heal their injured comrades. Even though he was injured himself, he still protected her. She watched as Neji followed TenTen closely, making sure nothing happened to her, as Kiba and Akamaru took a barrage of kunai to keep them from hitting Hinata.

It was strange, but even in times of war, there was still a strong bond holding them all together. A love that made the shinobi preserve through even the bloodiest of battles.

She watched as Gai and Kisame faced off, and how Kisame eventually took the upper hand and mortally wounded the ever smiling, handsome beast of Konoha. She remembered as an enraged Lee finished off Kisame, and watching him cry as Gai congratulated him at becoming a greater ninja than he could ever hope to be, before he died in Lee's arms. She remembered watching Lee cry, as he had achieved his dream, but lost a father figure, lost his best friend.

Akatsuki is no more. All but Itachi had died in the initial battle, and Naruto finished off Itachi, the last surviving member, in the final hours the war. Sakura could remember how Naruto smiled at her after he defeated Itachi, and she remembered how he smiled while protecting her from Sasuke.

'How could I ever care about someone so heartless...I thought I loved him, but, maybe not. But if it wasn't love, then what was it?'

Sakura was broken from her thoughts as Tsunade spoke up, speaking as if she knew exactly what she was thinking.

"It's strange, isn't it, how in the desperate times, when you need help the most. The one person you never expected in the least is the person that comes to your rescue."

It was odd hearing Tsunade talk like this. She was a very strong and independent woman. Or, at least she acted like one. In the tent while they were trying to stabilize the condition of the shinobi closest to them, Tsunade told Sakura what had happened to Jiraiya in more detail. She and Jiraiya had faced off against Orochimaru, and had defeated him. As Jiraiya cleaved the Snake Sannin's head off, thousands of snakes exploded from his body, each snake with a sword coming from it's mouth. Both Tsunade and Jiraiya were almost out of Chakra, and had no time to counter the Snake sannins final attack.

Right before the attack reached them, Jiraiya stepped in front of Tsunade and took the brunt of the attack. Tsunade, struggling to keep her tears back, couldn't help but yell at the old pervert. Jiraiya just smiled, and said "I may be a pervert, but I have enough sense to protect a lady with my life, even if she is a drunk...and completely sucks at gambling." Jiraiya fell unconscious, and Tsunade rushed to his side. She checked for his pulse, and listened to him breath steadily. She smiled, though strange as he is, she didn't think she could go on if she knew the old pervert had died. "Arigato, Jiraiya-kun." She said softly, as she carried him out of the battle field.

Walking towards the bath house, looking at all the tents, it brought a tear to her eyes. To see all the orphaned children, with bandages and crutches. To see adults, who though they were injured, still tried to create a home for their families. Even though they were broken, the spirit of fire still burned in them, and they persevered. They would make it through this.

**(A/N):** Well, that's it for my first chapter. I've got the next two already typed. As of now, I plan on this being a lengthy story so that I can try various things just to get the experience. So, R & R. Thanks in advance, peace to you all.


	2. The Bath House

Wow. I got more reviews than I thought I would. Thanks for the reviews and the compliments. I thought I would take some time to explain exactly, sorta-kinda, what you should expect. I'm going to use the first few chapters, however many chapters I feel I need to, in order to develop the characters. Then I will get into the main plot of the story. As the story progresses, the pieces should fall into place and the story should make sense (I hope). As I said, there will be fluff, and a lot of pairings. But the one pair that I'll really be focusing on is NaruSaku. The other pairings are just there for me to have fun with, and just drop them in here and there. But, anyway, thanks for the review, and enjoy the second chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own Naruto

**Chapter 2: **The Bath House

Sakura, Tsunade, and Ino all felt they should get cleaned up. After all, today is a big day. The day their new lives will start. As they stepped into the water they noticed the other kunoichi's were present as well. Anko and Shizune were relaxing, enjoying some sake. Hinata, TenTen, and Temari were sitting together talking. Temari had come to bring word to Konoha from the Kazekage, to let the broken nation know that they still had support from the Sand. She also came, though she wouldn't admit to it, to check on a certain "cry-baby" strategist.

As Tsunade, Sakura, and Ino settled into the warm bath, Tsunade pouring herself a cup of warm sake. The kunoichi began talking amongst themselves, remembering all that had happened.

"I went by Kiba-kun's house earlier. He looks a lot better. His sister has been taking good care of him and Akamaru." Hinata said with a slight blush. Ever since the beginning of all the fighting, her trembling and her stuttering had all but disappeared. She seemed more confident. "I think I really like him."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Neji followed me through the entire fight, he never let me go anywhere that he wasn't able to keep an eye on me. I've never seen him so protective. After all the fighting, I helped him walk back to the tower to meet all you guys, and on the way he asked me out! Even though I was extremely tired, I couldn't help but scream. But then I almost dropped Neji, and I felt REALLY embarrassed."

"Chouji protected me and Temari as I tried to heal Shikamaru. It didn't matter how many times he got hit, he just kept on going."

"What happened to Shikamaru?"

Temari bowed her head as if pained, "Somebody had put an Exploding tag on a building next to where we were standing. Shikamaru was busy planning on a final attack to route the Sound army. He noticed the Tag and that I was near it. All I remember is him yelling, "Shit! This is TOO troublesome!" He pushed me out of the way, and in the midst of the blast glass from part of the building blinded him in his left eye." Temari was struggling to hold back her tears now. "He just smiled at me, and told me how troublesome I was. Then he said that I owe him dinner after this."

Ino put a hand on Temari's shoulder trying to comfort the pained kunoichi.

"I managed to stabalize Shikamaru's condition, and poor Chouji continued to fight. After all the fighting was done, Chouji collapsed. I tried my best to get him to the medical tent, and stabilize his condition. I told him that, well, over the past couple of years I had grown to love him. My feelings for him were stronger than when I was obsessed with Sasuke. I told him he had to make it out of this, and after he did I would take him to dinner. He promised me he would, and that I didn't have to take him out to dinner. We could do whatever I wanted."

"Chouji turned down food!" All the girls screamed in unison.

"Yeah, I was shocked too. But you know, I couldn't be happier right now."

"So, are you going to make him go on a diet?"

"What? Why would I?"

"Come on, your the one always talking about being slim, muscular, and such."

"What! I never said such things!"

All the kunoichi started laughing at this point.

"WHAT! WHAT IS SO FUNNY!"

"I don't believe this, here we are recovering from a war with the sound, preparing for war with other countries, and you're all worried about dates." Tsunade said as she drained off the last of her sake. "What is this, some sort of weird dating service. Next Shizune and Anko are going to tell me that they're interested in somebody."

"Well..." Both started in unison.

"No...your kidding..." Both kunoichi started to blush, and shook their heads.

"Well, you'll never see me acting like that." Tsunade stated plainly, folding her arms.

"Don't lie, Tsunade-sama." All, the kunoichi looked at her expectedly, Sakura smiling as she continued to try and clean her hair.

"What, do I have something in my teeth, something wrong with my hair. Why are you all looking at me like that?"

The girls just shook their heads, and turned towards Sakura.

"We're sorry about Sasuke, we're sure he'll come back. And you can have him all to yourself." Ino looked at Sakura, trying to get a smile out of her friend. But Sakura continued to stare off in thought.

"Thanks, but I don't care about him anymore, at least, not like that." All the kunoichi just stood, shocked.

"You didn't see what he tried to do to me. You were never around when he would act so cold to me, and insult me. You didn't hear him threaten to kill all of us. You...didn't s-see...wh-wh-what he d-did to Na..." Sakura couldn't continue as the tears started to come forth. They all just listened, patiently, as Sakura cried in Tsunade's arms. They had all heard about what had happened to the blond shinobi. How Sasuke tried to kill Sakura, about the vow Sasuke made to make Naruto suffer. About how Naruto had protected her.

As they tried to console their friend, they heard a loud voice coming through the dividing wall. A framiliar voices. Jiraiya's voice!

"What the Hell is he doing out of the medical tent?! I'll break him like a twig if he's peeping again!!!" Tsunade grabbed her towel and started walking towards the wall, clearly pissed at this point, when she heard other voices.

All the kunoichi ran to the wall trying to hear the conversations. They couldn't hear clearly, so Tsunade summoned a slug, and had it use it's acid to melt small holes in the wall where the kunoichi could see and hear clearly.

They immediately recognized Jiraiya, and Tsunade just stared. They had never seen Jiraiya like this before. Huge Muscles covering his scarred body. He was aged, but he looked powerful. Still very youthful. His body was lean, firm looking, and Tsunade just stared.

"Tsunade-sama, your drooling." Tsunade, shaken from her daze, quietly yelled at the kunoichi, and they couldn't help but notice a blush gracing her face.

They turned when they heard another voice. All recognizing it now as Kakashi. Kakashi, wearing a small towel around the lower part of his face, and another towel wrapped around his head to cover his eye, seemed to be enjoying himself. Anko just stared at his pale, lean, muscled body. Despite their efforts to bring her out of her daze, she continued to stare.

"Well, at least we know who she's stalking." Shizune said with a laugh.

"I am NOT stalking!" Anko said with a slight smirk. 'Besides, did you notice who was sitting across from him?"

Shizune turned bright red as she looked through the hole. "Heh,I thought so. You DO like Iruka." Anko stated triumphantly.

All the girls turned to see her staring at Iruka, a blush and a smile gracing her features.

"Hey, there's somebody else in there!" Ino said, quite loudly.

"SHHHHHH! Who is it?"

"It's...Its...Naruto!"

Sakura immediately knocked the other kunoichi out of the way. There he was, sitting there. The kunoich studied Naruto closely. Solid body, defined muscles. He wasn't big, but GOD was he cut. Slightly tan, hair starting to grow a little longer (his hair is just a little shorter than the Yondaime's now). A lean narrow face. And those eyes...

Anko laughed, "Sakura, dear, pick your chin up off the floor will you." The kunoichi just laughed as Sakura turned the same color as her hair.

"Wow, he's gotten cute." TenTen started, and all the other kunoichi just nodded their heads in agreement. Who knew that Naruto would get that hot.

Then, as he turned, they saw his back. Poor Hinata retched behind a potted plant, and Sakura began to cry softly.

"Wow, I had no idea his injuries were that bad..." Ino and the others just stared at the scars covering Naruto's back.

"He did that for me...an-and I was always so mean to him, chasing Sasuke, ignoring him, and he did that for me.."

"Sakura," all the kunoichi looked at her as Tsunade began to speak, "I think Naruto...He really-" she was cut short by Anko.

"SHHHH! They've started to talk about something!" All the girls turned around and began listening intently as the shinobi began to talk.

**(A/N):** Well, there's the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed what I wrote. Hopefully you'll enjoy the pairings. I plan on having a little fun with the various pairings, trying to get some humor out of them to lighten the overall atmosphere of the story. Next chapter should really end the "character development" for the most part. So chapter four should really start the story. I also hope to give a lot of insight into certain characters in the next chapter, but...well...you'll see what I mean. So, until then, peace to you all.


	3. Broken Hearts of an Unsuspecting Family

Thanks for all the reviews, support, etc I'm happy so many people like the story. I hope you all keep reading and enjoy what I've got planned. So, thanks to all you guys. You...are...Awesome! . I'm very happy with everything that's come up so far. I'm about ready to start the main plot of the story. Can't say when I'll get the next chapter up for sure or not. Hopefully sometime this weekend. I've got a lot of tests the next few days, but I'll see what I can do. I hope you like this chapter. It may seem odd at first, with all that's being said. But, I have a reason, a point to prove. But I'll let you in on that, in another note from me. But first, the Story!!!

**Disclaimer:** I did own Naruto, but then I woke up and found out I was dreaming. So, I actually don't own Naruto.

**Chapter 3: **Broken Hearts of an Unsuspecting Family

"Well Naruto, I never imagined that you would let Sasuke do something like that to you." Kakashi said, smiling at the blond. Well, they thought he was smiling.

"Yeah, and we know you did it do protect Sakura. So, tell us what's going on." Iruka said smiling, as the three shinobi eyed Naruto closely.

Naruto sweat dropped, and flashed that confused look and goofy smile, "What are you guys talking about."

"Come on, it's just us guys here. Tell us, what's going on between you two." Jiraiya said smiling.

"Honestly, nothing." Naruto said quietly.

"WHAT!" Came a scream. All the Shinobi began looking around, while on the girls side the kunoichi tried to keep an enraged Sakura quiet.

"Hmmm, must be hearing things." Jiraiya said as he scratched his head.

"Well, to tell the truth, I love her. But, nothing is going to happen, it's all just one sided." Naruto said, as the light from his bright blue eyes began to fade.

Sakura just stared, and all the other kunoichi just smiled. 'He loves me' she thought to herself.

"To tell the truth, I really care about her, and I would give my life to protect her..." Naruto started as his three sensei's looked on with pride. "and her happiness means more to me than anything else. Even more than me becoming Hokage." Naruto smiled his trademark smile, a little bit of light returning to his eyes.

All the kunoichi just stood in awe, they all knew how much it meant to Naruto to become Hokage. And here he is admitting that a pink haired shinobi meant more than all that.

Jiraiya turned and whispered to Kakashi and Iruka "He's really serious right now. I wonder how long it will last?" The other two just shrugged, and Kakashi laughed slightly "Well, lets just enjoy it while it lasts."

Naruto continued completely unaware of his sensei's conversation. "I know that she loves Sasuke, I've heard her say it many times. I even remember when she said she hated me. It's ok, I mean, sure it hurt. It hurt A LOT. But when I saw her smile, heard her laugh, the pain would go away. I promised myself that I would do whatever it takes to make sure that smile never faded, that her laughter never stopped."

All the kunoichi glared at Sakura, wondering how she could hate someone like Naruto. Sakura slowly began to cry.

"I remember the day Sasuke ran away. I promised her that I would bring Sasuke back, and I failed to do it. I failed her. I was so ashamed of myself. When she came in, she was in shock. I knew she was struggling to keep from crying. But I knew that it wasn't because of my condition. She was upset because I was the one that came back, and not Sasuke. Even now I will keep that promise. I will bring him back, so they can be happy. I know he made all those threats, but he just wants me. I feel, that if he gets what he wants, he'll come back and everything will be normal again. And I don't mind giving up my life in order to do that."

'How could I have been that blind? Naruto, just what have I done to you? What have I done?' Sakura thought to herself, sobbing a little louder now, and Tsunade was about to have a very serious talk with her apprentice concerning the blond, when Jiraiya spoke up.

"Well kid, it's ok. We know how you feel. We've all been there, right guys." Kakashi and Iruka nodded in agreement.

"I guess I'll start," Kakashi said in a more serious tone. "I was in love once, though I never said anything,with a beautiful medical ninja named Rin. I never said anything, because I knew she had feelings for an Uchiha as well. She was in love with Obito, and I also knew Obito was in love with her. So, I was in the same boat you're in Naruto. As long as they were happy, I would just keep quiet."

'That's not true, I..I don't feel like that. I...' Sakura's thoughts trailed off.

"Then came the day that Obito died. He died trying to save Rin, and afterwards, with his dying words, he gave me this." Kakashi pointed to his covered eye. "He died without ever telling Rin how he felt, and Rin never said anything to him either. After his death, she couldn't even talk to me anymore, because she knew that I had his eye, and seeing it caused her pain. So, she left. She left without ever saying goodbye. Thinking that she was the only one who was in pain. She didn't realize that I had lost my best friend, and that by her leaving I had lost the only woman that I had ever cared about."

The kunoichi were taken back by Kakashi's words. None of them had ever seen this side of the silver haired Jounin before.

"So now, I just read these books" Kakashi held up his newest copy of Icha Icha Paradise. "People call me perverted, but I just ignore them. Because it's when I read these books, about the romance and passion that these characters have, that I'm able to dream. To dream that it is me, with someone that I care about. That everything in the world is peaceful again. I'm allowed to escape from this loneliness. But I have to come back to the real world sometime. So, if by reading these books in order to wonder what it would feel like to be loved makes me a pervert...then, well, I guess I am." Kakashi said, but the look in his eyes had such a pain that no one had ever seen before.

All the kunoichi were starting to cry, when Iruka started to speak.

"Yeah, even I've read those books." Iruka said with a slight blush. "After my parents died, I was all alone. No one ever noticed me, I was just the kid who had no parents. My parents died a noble death, and I took pride in their sacrifice, but it still hurt. So, like you, I became the class clown. I would do whatever it took to get people to notice me, and I would laugh. I knew they were laughing at me, but, as long as they noticed me, I didn't care."

"Wow, you pulled pranks too?" Naruto asked with a grin.

"Yeah, I did. But you know, that still never got me a date. To this day I've never even kissed a girl. After all the times of being rejected, being ignored, being laughed at, I just stopped trying. I became a Genin, and eventually a Chuunin, and I did my missions, and eventually started to teach. And I've been doing that ever since. Because, when I'm teaching, I feel like I'm doing something in which people need me. And, I actually feel, a sort of love."

"Iruka-sensei, I'm sorry I was never a good student." Naruto bowed his head, as if shamed by his sensei's revelation.

"It's okay, because out of all my students, you've become my favorite. You've also probably become the strongest, and I'm proud of you because of that." Iruka smiled, and Kakashi nodded in agreement.

Then they all turned expectedly towards the old sannin. The kunoichi, all crying at this point, held their breath to see what would happen.

Jiraiya finished off the last of his sake, and began to speak. "Well, I guess it's my turn."

"You could say that I was a prankster, but the main thing I did was peeping. I've always been obsessed with women. The most perfect, the most beautiful being in all the land.

The kunoichi all blushed slightly by the old mans statement. Who would have thought that the old Sannin could say something so beautiful about something so...perverted.

"Haha, I even remember when Sarutobi-sensei went with me to go peeping once. To make sure my 'stealth' abilities were as good as I said they were. I had so much fun with that old pervert."

They all laughed at this, and Tsunade just shook her head.

"I too was in love once. In fact, it would be a lie to say that I still didn't have feelings towards her. I would just watch her while we were training, as she and the other girls formed Orochimaru's fan club. Yes, Orochimaru had a following of girls. Something about the strong silent type I guess. He would leave, I would laugh at them, and then I'd get pounded for it. Eventually, like all fan girls they change their mind. Although they always hated me."

Naruto just nodded his head in agreement. Shame seemed to cover all the kunoichi's faces, as they all had done that at one point.

"We fought, we argued, that was our routine. But I always did my best to comfort her, to still be her comrade. I remember when her little brother was killed. How Orochimaru was cruel in the matter, how I wanted so bad to break his face." Jiraiya slammed his hand into the floor by the water, causing it to break under the impact.

"I warned her not to go in, but she didn't listen to me, she never did. When she came out she was crying. I tried to console her, but she wouldn't listen. She just blew me off, it didn't matter that I was trying to help."

"I remember Orochimaru left, and I tried my hardest to stop him, to bring him back. To bring back the only friend that I had." Kakashi and Naruto just nodded their heads in understanding.

"After I failed, Tsunade was the one that found me. She even told me that she ought to just leave me here for being such an idiot. But she ended up healing me and taking me back to the village. I thought I would be ok, because she was still here. I still had one person I cared about. Then, she met Dan, and the two eventually became lovers, and I was just written off as an annoyance, it's like I didn't exist anymore, to anyone." Jiraiya paused, taking a moment to regain his composure.

"I can't tell you how much that hurt me. But, seeing her happy was the ultimate goal, so I just kept quiet. I remember when Dan died, she was so broken that she left without saying goodbye. All I was told is that she kept saying that there was nothing left for her here. I wasn't even important enough for her to say goodbye, or even important enough to keep her here. I wasn't a comrade, a friend, just a nobody."

Tsunade was crying openly at this time, and Anko just shook her head "Looks like you taught Sakura everything you knew, eh Hokage-sama." Tsunade and Sakura just cried harder.

"I stayed, unlike my two comrades, and became an instructor. That's when I began teaching your father, Naruto. I was so proud of him. Here was something I could devote my time to, and actually feel the love and respect I always wanted from someone. I stayed here, until that night the Kyuubi attacked. After your father died, I knew I had nothing left. I also felt that I might get asked to take the position of Hokage, and I didn't want that responsibility. So, after Yondaime's funeral, I left."

"Eventually, I began writing to vent my frustrations. I could put all of my pent up emotions into my writing, and it made life more bearable. That led to peeping again, which, I must say I quite missed it. A woman's body is something beautiful to behold. Like Kakashi, I don't have love, I never got to experience it. So I just put my dreams, my fantasies, into my writing. They call me a pervert, but I'm not. Not really, just a man whose never experienced love, and takes care of it the only way he knows how."

All the kunoichi were crying hysterically at this point.

Jiraiya looked at Naruto and smiled, "Here, I want you to have this." Jiraiya reached into a bag and pulled out a book. "This was the first book I ever had published, and to this day it is the most sought after book out of all I've written, and I want you to have it."

"NO!" all the kunoichi yelled, and the four shinobi just looked around trying to figure out where that noise was coming from.

Kakashi pulled out his copy, and Iruka pulled out his, and Naruto took the copy from Jiraiya and smiled.

"Well, I may never know what love is, but I can always dream right?" The other three just nodded in agreement.

"Thanks guys, when I get to talk to you like this, without worrying about fighting or becoming stronger. I feel, like I actually have a family. That I'm wanted by somebody."

"What are you talking about?" Iruka asked the boy.

Kakashi looked at him, "We are family."

Naruto, with tears in the corner of his eyes, hugged the three shinobi.

"Well," Iruka started to leave, "I've got to go see about making a curriculum for the new Academy. So, I'll see you guys later."

"I should leave too," Kakashi said, "I need to go back and check out what's left of Konoha, and see if there's anything important that was left, and scout out the enemies movements."

"Well kid, just me and you. What do you say that we go get some ramen, my treat. And then tomorrow start training again."

"Ossu!" Naruto smiled, and saluted his sensei. With that, the two left, leaving a very depressed group of kunoichi to talk amongst themselves.

"I've never heard them talk like that before. They're some of the strongest shinobi that I've ever met, and to hear them sound so depressed." Ino said, leaning back against the wall.

Tsunade wiped the tears from her eyes, and started to speak "War brings out the darkest and most painful of memories, out of even the strongest shinobi. You should feel grateful to hear everything they said, because you will probably never hear those shinobi ever say anything like that again."

TenTen, Ino, and Hinata got up and prepared to leave.

"Where are you going?" Sakura asked of the three kunoichi.

"I'm going to tell Neji how I really feel, because I don't want him to suffer like they are." TenTen left.

"I'm going to go check on Chouji, I want him to know that he is a somebody, and that he is needed. I don't want him to feel like Jiraiya and Naruto." Ino left.

"I want to go see Kiba-kun, because I want him to know he's loved." Hinata blushed, and left.

Anko and Shizune got up to leave.

"Where are you two going?" Tsunade inquired, rather weakly.

"Well, there's a silver haired stud that's due some much needed attention. So, I'm probably going to be busy for the next day or two." Anko said with a smile. Sakura turned a bright shade of pink after she realized what Anko was intending on doing.

"And there's an instructor whose virgin lips are just waiting to be taken." Shizune said with a grin.

"Shizune, I've never heard you talk like that before."

"Well, I've never felt this way before." With that, the two kunoichi left. Leaving Tsunade and Sakura to figure out their own feelings.

"I always knew he liked me, but I always pushed him away. Just wanting to fit in with everyone else. Soon, those childish feelings came to reflect my own feelings towards the man. I never really took the time to see how he had matured. How strong and defined he had become. Instead, I just ignored him." Tsunade just stared into the water.

"I did the same thing. I always ignored Naruto, never even gave him a chance. I just did what everyone else did so I could fit in. I liked Sasuke, he was ok. But it wasn't until I noticed that all the other girls were really into him that began to take an interest in him. Would you believe that I used to talk and play with Naruto until I found out that all the other kids were avoiding him, so I did too." Sakura bowed her head in shame.

"When we made fun of him, nobody picked on me anymore. Eventually they accepted me, and I began to chase Sasuke, and ignore him. But Sasuke never cared. He never cheered for me, he wasn't excited about being on my team, he never encouraged me. But Naruto did. Oh my god, what have I done to him."

"Shhh, It's alright. We still have time to make this right." Tsunade said trying to reassure her apprentice.

"The love and companionship I've always wanted, the feeling of being needed. Someone to heal my broken heart. The person who could do that was always there, right next to me. But I always chose to ignore him. I think it's time to become whole again, and to claim that solid body as my own." Tsunade said, a mischievous grin crossing her face.

"Wow, Tsunade-sama, it's like you read my mind." Sakura said, with the light coming back into her emerald eyes.

With that, the two left the bath house and headed towards Ichiraku ramen. Before healing a broken nation, the healing of a few broken hearts needed to take place. Then, the nation can take a new name, a new form, and a new power. The two kunoichi had a job to do, and nothing was going to keep them from doing it.

* * *

A man walked down a long hallway, made from white stone. The hallway was dark, covered with moss. Age clearly showed. It was lit by a few candles. He strode tall, eyes focused, yet clearly nervous. Sweat running down his brow, struggling to swallow a growing lump in his throat. He came to the end of the hallway and emerged in a huge room, supported by pillars.

The room was dark, the only light coming from the eyes of a giant viper in the center of the room. The giant stone viper laid there with its mouth open, and in it sat a huge throne. The throne of the Otokage. And seated upon the throne, the Otokage waited, impatiently.

"Lord Otokage," the man bowed low.

"Any word from the scouts?" The Otokage stared at the man, killing intent seething from the distant looking kage.

"No Lord Otokage, but-" the man was cut off by the Otokage. Literally, the Otokage's blade slid through his throat, making slight gurgling noises as blood spilled through the wound.

Kabuto walked through a door behind the stone viper, and stared at the man on the floor as the Otokage took his seat.

"Hmm, he just became a shinobi of the Sound a few days ago, sad really. You really need to learn to control that temper of yours Sasuke-sama."

Sasuke smiled, red eyes staring off into the darkness, waiting.

Soon, very soon, he would find them. He would find _Him!_

**(A/N): **Well, another chapter is done. I hope I didn't take too much freedom with the Shinobi's feelings. You see, I wanted to show that all the shinobi had bad experiences. Naruto wasn't alone. That all the shinobi wore a mask to hide the pain. I wanted to show what that pain could be, so that Naruto could relate to them all the more. Like a family, the one Naruto always wanted. Which those very feelings play an important role later on. I'm still not 100 sure what I'm going to do. But I've got a fairly good idea. So, I hope you enjoyed it. Please, R&R, and I'll try to update as soon as I can. Peace to you all.


	4. Naruto's Worst Fear

Well, here's another chapter. I tried to make this a little longer. Well, it seemed a little longer while I was typing it. Thanks for all the reviews. I notice I was getting a lot of hits. So, If you guys are reading, just drop me a review. I'd like to get some feedback, see what you think. Any questions, I'll try to answer them. Anyway, this chapter precedes the "Birth of Honoogakure" where the title of my story comes from. The festival that I will be writing about in the next chapter is called "Shinsei no Matsuri" which means "Festival of Rebirth" if I did it right. so, enjoy the chapter.

**Disclaimer: **still don't own Naruto

**Chapter 4: **Naruto's Worst Fear

Jiraiya just stared at his young apprentice as he finished his 12th bowl of ramen. 'He really puts that stuff away. Heh, almost as fast as I put the sake away.'

Jiraiya finished the last bit of his sake before hitting stop on the small time clock that was sitting on the counter.

"1 minute and 58 seconds, that's slower than last time. You lose the bet kid, now you have to pay."

"Dammit! I'm injured, don't I get some sort of handicap or something?"

"Uhhh, no."

"Dammit!" Teuchi, the owner of Ichiraku ramen, laughed as he watched his favorite customer stare angrily at the old Sannin.

Ichiraku was one of the first shops to be built in the new Hidden Village. After all, the workers and builders needed someplace to eat. Almost all the workers in the village came to Ichiraku for lunch. Ichiraku was, how you say, booming with business. Naruto had even cried when he saw so many people eating and enjoying ramen. He said something (more like yelled) like 'Finally, ramen gets the respect it deserves!'

Naruto pulled out his frog wallet and prepared to pay the bill, when Jiraiya grabbed his hands.

"Naruto, something's not right. We've got to get out of here, NOW."

A burning noise was heard inside the building, and the two shinobi looked up to see about 20 exploding tags preparing to go off.

"Damn!" Naruto put his fingers in a crossed position. "Teuchi-san, we have to get you and the customers out of here."

Teuchi nodded.

* * *

Sakura and Tsunade walked down the main path, looking at all the progress that had been made the past few days. During the war against Oto and Akatsuki, Suna had already begun to build a new village at the Hokage's request. She knew that Konoha would fall, and that they would need a new home, a new base of operation.

"The builders from Suna really work fast." Tsunade looked at her young apprentice.

"They have to, living in the desert. Buildings need to be finished in a relatively short time before all the work is destroyed by sand storms."

"Besides, I also told them to hurry so we could finish by tonight."

"Why tonight?" Sakura stopped as she and Tsunade let workers pass them.

The workers were carrying Statues of the previous Hokages to the Hokage tower. The statues were made from the stone of the destroyed Hokage Mountain. Tsunade chose to create a hall of Hokage's like that of Suna, to honor Suna for helping Konoha in it's time of need. Also, there are no mountains around, so they couldn't make another Hokage Mountain.

"Tonight is a special night, tonight is the first Shinsei no Matsuri."

"I know tonight is the night we announce the new Hidden Village. But why tonight? What makes tonight so important?"

"Tonight is also the anniversary of when the Kyuubi attacked, 18 years ago today."

"Oh," Sakura started to walk towards Ichiraku again, and stopped.

"Wait, Tonight's the 18 year anniversary of the Kyuubi attack? That means…."

Tsunade looked at her apprentice, and realized what she meant.

"It's Naruto's 18th birthday!"

"Shhh, keep quiet Sakura. I've already got a surprise in store for Naruto. Tonight in the celebration I plan on promoting him to Chuunin."

Sakura smiled at her sensei, "He'll enjoy that. But what should I get him for his birthday?"

"You can give him his new head protector."

"That's ok, I guess. But he's 18 today, I want to give him something really special."

"Well, how about you help get him his first girlfriend?"

"WHAT!"

"Shhh, Sakura, you're getting loud again."

"Sorry, but I really care about Naruto, I don't want to help him get a girlfriend when I care about him!" Sakura looked very upset.

"Sakura, for someone so smart, you can be as dense as Naruto sometimes."

"Oh? OOOhhh!" Sakura smiled. "Yes, I think I will help him get a girlfriend."

"That more like it, now let's go find those two."

The workers in front of them finished carrying the Kage statues across the path to the Hokage's tower. Bringing the last statue, the Godaime's, across the street. Tsunade glared at her statue.

"Wait, my chest isn't that big! You there, who was the sculptor of that statue?"

The man looked up, "Sorry, Hokage-sama, but I'm not sure who sculpted it. Maybe you should ask Jiraiya-sama."

"Why ask him?"

"Well, when the sculptor couldn't find you, he went to the medical tent and asked Jiraiya-sama where you were. He thought that, being a fellow Sannin, he would know. Jiraiya-sama didn't know, but he said he would help, since he personally knew how you looked."

"Oh, really…" Fire came from the enraged Hokage's eyes. The worker fled with the statue as fast as he could, terrified of the now angry Hokage.

"Here I was thinking about how much I cared about that bastard, and now THIS! The only date he's getting know, IS A DATE WITH MY FISTS!!!"

Tsunade stormed off towards Ichiraku with Sakura following behind her, laughing as they went.

Tsunade stopped suddenly, and Sakura (who wasn't paying attention) ran into her teacher.

"What's wrong Tsunade-sama?" Sakura looked up to see Jiraiya, Naruto, and Naruto, wait, clones. Why did Naruto create clones. Then she saw what had made Tsunade stop. The Ramen stand was covered in exploding tags.

She noticed a ninja behind the stand making signs with his hands.

Sakura yelled at her teammate as she and Tsunade ran towards the Ramen stand, only to be knocked down by a HUGE explosion.

Sakura and Tsunade looked up, trying to find their comrades through the dust and debris.

They saw that all of the people who had been inside the Ramen stand were ok, but there was still no sign of Jiraiya or Naruto.

Then, they saw them, Jiraiya was covering Teuchi, and Naruto was covering Ayame, Teuchi's daughter. They were cut up and bleeding pretty bad.

Tsunade was worried (surprising since just moments ago she wanted to kill Jiraiya) and Sakura was crying again. 'No, he's hurt again.'

* * *

The Sound-nin smiled at what he had accomplished. He would be rewarded for his efforts at injuring the Kyuubi container.

He had come on a scouting mission, mapping out the newly formed boundaries of the countries after the Fire Nation had fallen. His comrades had already left to give their report to the Otokage. He had stayed behind to scout out the border with Suna, because they had noticed a large encampment near the border. After arriving he found the Konoha villagers, or at least, what was left of them.

It was then that he noticed the Kyuubi's Jinchiruuki eating inside a small stand.

'Here's my chance to make a name for myself. If I can kill the Demon holder in front of me, the Otokage is sure to promote me.'

It was then that he placed exploding tags along the outside of the stand, and he set them off simultaneously.

He sat and watched, smiling as the smoke rose from the crater the explosion had created.

His smile turned into a frown, as he was clearly frustrated to see the Jinchiruuki get up after that. He was so frustrated that he didn't notice the sand that was slowly starting to gather around his ankles.

* * *

Naruto leaned over and helped Ayame up, Jiraiya doing the same for Teuchi. Teuchi sat on the ground, clearly upset that his Ramen stand had been destroyed.

Naruto, clearly angry, no more than angy. He was pissed that his favorite Ramen stand had been destroyed. Nobody disrespects Ramen like that while Naruto Uzumaki is around.

"Dammit, how did we miss that?"

Well, you did say you were injured, and I'm not faring any better. I guess we still have a while before we're back to 100."

"Well, at least no body got hurt." Naruto said as he started to dust off his pants (Naruto doesn't have a jacket or top anymore thanks to Sasuke, so all he's wearing now is his orange pants and sandals. His upper body is just covered by bandages.).

"Your back still looks like you lost to a cheese grater though."

Naruto just glared at his sensei, but he noticed that his sensei was pale.

"Oi, Ero-Sennin, what's wrong? You look like you just saw Tsunade obaa-chan." Naruto laughed to himself.

"Bingo kid, and she's not alone." Jiraiya pointed.

Naruto turned, and noticed Tsunade and Sakura were walking towards them. Sakura pulling on her gloves and Tsunade rolling up her sleeves.

"Oh," was all he could say before the beatings began.

Tsunade healed Jiraiya while Sakura did the same for Naruto

The two kunoichi stared at the two males, well, stared would be a nice way to put it.

"What were you thinking? You could have been killed!" The two kunoichi yelled in unison.

Naruto looked at Tsunade, "It's ok Obaa-chan, we're still alive."

Jiraiya shook his head, "I wish you hadn't said that."

A vein pulsed on Tsunade's head as she prepared to pummel the two again, only to be stopped by a wall of Sand.

"Kazekage-sama!" Sakura bowed in respect towards the approaching kage.

"Oi, Gaara, how have you been?"

"Fine Naruto, good to see your finally among the world of the living again. I would hate to see anything happen to my dear friend."

They turned to see a man covered in sand floating behind the Kazekage.

"Kazekage-sama, who is that behind you."

"This, I think, is the person that blew up Ichiraku."

'So this is the person trying to take away my Naruto, even before I've had a chance to make him mine.' Thought Sakura, as she cracked her knuckles and slowly started walking towards the Sound-nin.

"So you're the bastard. NOBODY DISRESPECTS RAMEN LIKE THAT!" Naruto screamed at him as he slowly started to reach for the Sound-nin.

As the Shinobi got closer to him, he started laughing.

"What's so funny you bastard. I wouldn't be laughing right now if I were you."

"Hehe, I took a suicide pill before your friend who plays with the sand caught me."

"Really," Gaara turned and raised his hand slowly.

The Sound-nin began coughing badly, sand pouring out of his mouth, and with it said pill.

"Well, so much for your little pill."

The Sound-nin, eye's open widely, just stared at the Kazekage in front of him.

"OH SHI…" was all he could get out before sand covered his mouth.

"Take him to interrogation, Ibiki will know what to do with him." Said the Hokage, somewhat disturbed by what she saw.

The Kazekage smiled, remembering the man from the Chuunin exams five years ago. 'This could be fun.' Gaara laughed to himself as he walked towards the proper building.

"I look forward to the festival tonight. Tomorrow I will fill you in on what's happening to the surrounding countries and what's become of the Fire Nation. For now, I wish to go and 'watch' the show."

They all just watched, slightly uneasy, as the Kazekage walked off.

"Heh, and here I thought he was weaker without the Shukaku. Guess I was wrong."

Sakura hit Naruto on the head, "Baka, don't laugh at the Kazekage. He may be a close friend, but he's still the Kazekage."

"Owowowowow."

They all just laughed at Naruto.

"Well, I think we should go get ready for the festival. I'll go take Naruto and help him get some new clothes. Suna donated a lot of supplies to us, so I think we should go take a look. Naruto needs to look good for tonight."

'That bastard, he knows what I have planned for tonight.' "Well, I think Sakura and I should get ready too."

"Well, come along Naruto. Let's go get a change of clothes, hopefully something that's not orange."

"What's wrong with orange?" Naruto ran after his sensei.

* * *

"Ero-Sannin, why do I have to wear this? What's wrong with my old clothes."

Jiraiya hit Naruto on the head, knocking him to the floor.

"1. You don't have your old clothes anymore, because your apartment was destroyed, 2. the clothes you had were shredded by a certain Uchiha, and 3. You're a shinobi, Orange draws too much attention. We need to get you better clothes so you can become a better ninja."

"Why?"

Jiraiya hit Naruto again, "You'll see later tonight."

Upset as Naruto was, he did like the new clothes. Made him look powerful, manly, and there was a great swelling of pride as he looked at himself. 'I'm really a ninja. I'm doing it, I'm living my dream.' Smiling as he looked in the mirror.

Naruto wore Black pants, with a long sleeved fishnet shirt. Over that shirt he wore a long sleeved black shirt. It wasn't Orange, but he wasn't complaining.

"Here, put this on too." Jiraiya threw a green Chuunin vest at him.

"Why, I'm still only a genin."

"Well, Tsunade and I both know that you should be a Chuunin. So, nobody is going to complain."

Naruto smiled from the recognition from his sensei. Putting on the vest, he couldn't help but smile.

'Heh, I look AWESOME!' Naruto cheered in his mind.

'Heh, he looks just like his father.' Jiraiya thought to himself.

Well, if you're done admiring yourself, oh conceited one, we should be going to Hokage tower, the festival is going to start soon.

"Hai, lead the way Ero-Sennin."

* * *

Tsunade, dressed in her Hokage robes, waited impatiently on her apprentice.

"Come on Sakura, we need to go. The festival is due to start any time now."

"Coming Tsunade-sama." Sakura came out wearing a pink dress that came to her knees, with cut off sleeves, and she wore black sandals. Her hair was pulled back with a red ribbon.

"You look very nice Sakura, going for the kill I see."

Sakura smiled evilly. "Tonight, Naruto Uzumaki will be mine. It's a cinch." She said holding up a Peace sign. "Nothing is going to stop me." Thunder crashed in the distance.

Sakura looked at the sky as she and Tsunade left their tents to go to the Hokage tower. (Since they just finished building the tower, Tsunade hasn't had a chance to move in to it yet)

Black clouds were gathering, and seemed to be coming this way. It all looked bad, as if something bad was going to happen at the festival.

'Nothings bad is going to happen. Tonight, I'll tell Naruto how I feel, everything will be fine.'

Thunder struck again in the distance as the two kunoichi continued walking towards the site of the festival. 'Everything will be fine, right?'

**(A/N):** Well, that's it. Hope you enjoyed it. It might be a while until I can update again. I've got finals Monday-Wednesday of the upcoming week. So, I don't know what's going to happen, but I'll try to update if I can. Next chapter, the festival. And, I'll try to make it a long chapter,maybe even a two part. A lot of things are going to happen, which set the stage for the rest of the story. Plus, NaruSaku-ness starts next chapter. Until then, please R&R. Peace to you all.


	5. Shinsei no Matsuri

Well, it's me again. sorry its taken me so long to update. I've had finals, then I had to go home, do some christmas shopping, you know the drill. but I'm all finished. Now I can focus on my story. I hope you enjoy what I've written. I tried to make a longer chapter since it's been a while since I've posted. Keep in mind this was written while I was under a lot of stress, but I tried to do a good job, so I hope you enjoy it. One thing though, keep in mind that I am trying to stay somewhat true to the manga, but I do change some things every once in a while as I see fit. So, if something doesn't quite match up to the manga, that's because I've improvised for some reason. And with that, on with the story.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto

**Chapter 5: **Shinsei no Matsuri

Naruto and Jiraiya walked down the street of the newly finished hidden village, looking at all of the buildings, watching as the people prepared for the festival, the Shinsei no Matsuri (Festival of Rebirth).

Naruto looked up at the Hokage tower, smiling to see it finished. He looked back down the path that he was traveling and saw a group of young kunoichi looking at him, as he waved at them they started to turn bright red. Naruto could hear them start talking amongst themselves.

"Look, it's Naruto-kun!"..."God he looks so hot!"..."Did you hear, he's taken!"..."WHAT!" ..."Yes..." Naruto tried to hear the rest of the conversation, but he couldn't.

'I'm taken? What's going on, is someone spreading rumors about me?' Naruto looked up and stared accusingly at his sensei, who was busy grinning towards the group of kunoichi.

"Oi, Naruto, looks like you've got some fan girls."

"Who, me?"

"No, my other idiot apprentice."

"WHAT! You're teaching someone else!" Jiraiya hit Naruto over the head.

"Idiot, it's called sarcasm."

"..whatever..." Naruto dusted himself off as he and Jiraiya continued to walk towards the Hokage tower. Jiraiya just smiled at his young apprentice. 'He looks just like you now, and I see that people are starting to notice. I just hope the right person notices.'

"Oi, Ero-Sennin, it's almost time to start, we need to hurry up and take our places."

Jiraiya rolled his eyes, before following his student onto the platform near the Hokage tower.

* * *

"I can't wait for tonight! Naruto's going to have the greatest birthday ever!" Sakura cheered as she pumped her fist in the air.

"I'm happy you're so excited Sakura, and about Naruto no less."

"What do you mean by that Tsunade-sama, You know I really care for him."

"Yes, I know, but I guess I'm still just a little confused. When did you get over the Uchiha? When did your feelings for Naruto start. Fill me in, I'm curious." Tsunade gave a pouting look towards her apprentice and Sakura couldn't help but laugh at how she looked.

Sakura thought for a moment, and finally raised her head to speak. "Well, I always tried to ignore Naruto, always trying to get Sasuke to notice me. Over time though, Naruto began to impress me. When he protected me, when he helped Sasuke, and even protected Sasuke."

Sakura stopped when she noticed that the Kazekage and Kankuro were now walking towards the tower with them.

"Please don't let us interrupt you, we're curious to hear this story as well."

"Ok" Sakura tried her best not to blush.

"I guess it all started after I found out it was Naruto who protected me from you, Kazekage-sama. That's when I first began to acknowledge him."

Gaara looked away from the kunoichi, "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it, you've changed since then, you've become a good man." Gaara smiled at her, and Sakura just smiled back.

"After that I guess you could say we finally became friends. Then came the day that Sasuke left, and that's when I finally figured out how Naruto really felt."

_--Flashback--_

_Sakura stood in front of the rescue party that was to be sent after Sasuke, tears streaming down her face. She had come to Naruto, her last hope of getting Sasuke back._

"_Naruto , I beg you, Please bring Sasuke back."_

"_Sakura-chan, you really like Sasuke, huh."_

"_I know how much pain you're in because of Sasuke, I can understand."_

_Sakura started crying worse, remembering how she had treated the blond, what she had said about him, how she treated Naruto just like Sasuke treated her._

"_Naruto, thank you."_

_--End Flashback--_

"When they came back I was so happy, and I couldn't wait to see my teammates. I wanted to see Sasuke, but I went to see Naruto first. I had to thank him, for all he had done for me. Then, I heard him tell Shikamaru that he didn't bring Sasuke back. It hurt so bad, I didn't know what to think."

"Yeah, I remember that, you two looked so depressed."

Sakura looked up and saw that their small group had been joined by Temari and Shikamaru. Shikamaru, who was now wearing an eye patch, was walking arm in arm with Temari. Sakura smiled at the couple, and Temari smirked as she clung tighter to her "crybaby." Shikamaru sighed, and mumbled something about troublesome women.

Temari looked at Sakura, "Please, continue with your story."

"Well, Naruto was all bruised, bandaged...he looked like a mummy, actually." Sakura laughed at the memory. "I didn't find out until later what actually had happened to him. Not until he had left to train with Jiraiya-sama. What he had done to bring back Sasuke, and what Sasuke did to him."

Sakura shivered as she imagined Sasuke using the Chidori on Naruto. Actually trying to kill Naruto.

"While Naruto was gone I really started to notice just how boring life was without him around. It made me realize just how much I would miss him if he wasn't a part of my life. It also made me realize just how much Sasuke had changed, and how much my feelings towards him had changed."

"Then, when Naruto came back, I couldn't help but feel excited. I couldn't believe he was back, and I couldn't believe that for the first time in a long time, I felt happy. I also felt something different towards Naruto, something I had never felt before. I think I knew what it was, but I didn't want to admit it to myself."

"Forehead was always a little slow at figuring things out." Sakura looked up and noticed that Ino and Chouji were now walking with them. 'What, is everybody interested in my love life now?'

"Well, come on Forehead, finish the story." Sakura glared at her friend, before continuing.

"Soon after that I began to learn about the Bijuu, and that Naruto was the container for the Kyuubi no less. I was told about how Akatsuki was after Naruto, trying to get the Kyuubi out of him. And that if they did, he would...die." Sakura paused to remain calm, then cleared her throat in an effort to keep her composure.

"Then, after seeing what happened to Kazekage-sama, I couldn't help but be afraid for Naruto. I couldn't stop thinking about him, and what would happen to him if Akatsuki ever captured him."

The group stopped because they were outside of the gates at the Hokage tower. Already people had gathered around and anxiously awaited the beginning of the festival. There were booths with games, food, and Tsunade pointed out there were various "real games" in there as well. 'God, does she ever not think about gambling' Sakura shook her head.

Then Sakura noticed Naruto and Jiraiya standing on the platform at the base of the tower. Sakura blushed as she looked at Naruto. 'Wow, he looks...wow.' Tsunade saw her apprentice staring at the blond shinobi and smiled.

"It's amazing what a change of clothes will do for a person, isn't it?" Sakura just nodded her head.

Sakura felt an arm on her shoulder, Tsunade smiled at her, "Aren't you going to finish your story?"

Sakura smiled at her sensei, "Well, There's not a whole lot more to tell. After saving Kazekage-sama, we went to the Tenchikyou (Bridge of Heaven and Earth) to meet the Akatsuki spy. It was on this trip where Sai figured out how I felt towards Naruto.

_--Flashback--_

"_Sakura-san...It's time like this , that...umm, how to put it...You're very nice to Naruto-kun._

_Where those feelings come from is something I don't understand...But in a book it's said that..._

"_Everyone, it's time to go. If we don't get to the bridge by noon tomorrow this will all have been for nothing!" Naruto stared at Sakura and Sai before turning to follow Yamato._

_--End Flashback--_

"When we got there we found out that the spy was Kabuto, and that he and Orochimaru were planning on killing Sasori. (Sasori was the shinobi that Yamato-taichou was impersonating) After Orochimaru came out of hiding, it all went bad. Naruto got angry, and transformed into what seemed like a mini-kyuubi. It was frightening, but what was really scary was when I realized, that I could lose him. All because of some stupid promise that he made to me. He was hurting himself for me, to bring Sasuke back so that I would be happy. I felt such strong feelings for Naruto, feelings I had never felt before. Not even for Sasuke. I didn't want him to hurt anymore, I wanted to save Sasuke for him."

Sakura laughed to herself, "These feelings were so obvious it seems that Yamato-taichou even noticed how I felt. I had just finished healing Naruto after Yamato saved him from the Kyuubi's chakra..."

_--Flashback--_

"_Same as always...I can only do the dumbest of things for Naruto."_

_Yamato smiled at Sakura, "It's not what you do for Naruto that's important...It's how strongly you feel about him that counts..."_

_Sakura looked up at Yamato, a slightly confused look and a blush on her face._

"_Sakura, I can tell just by looking at you...The truth is you-"_

_Naruto sat up and looked at his two teammates. "Sakura-chan, what happened to me?"_

_--End Flashback--_

"I was so happy that Naruto was ok. That's when I really started to accept how I felt for Naruto, though I wasn't ready to admit it. I still haven't said anything to him about how I feel about him. But after he protected me from Sasuke, after I saw the scars that covered his back, I knew. I love Naruto with all my heart, more so than I ever felt about Sasuke. And tonight I'm going to tell him just how I feel!" Sakura said, pumping her fist into the air.

Sakura was caught off guard as she noticed that there was a rather large crowd around her now, cheering for her. All of her friends were around her now. Team Gai (they kept that name after their sensei died, to honor him), Hinata and Kiba, Temari and Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji, Gaara, Kankuro, Tsunade, Shino, Shizune and Iruka. 'Heh, so they did get together.' Sakura smiled at the two.

"Thanks for supporting me guys."

Iruka walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, it's no problem, you two deserve each other after all you've been through." Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

Sakura smiled, 'Everyone is here to support me...well, everyone except for Kakashi-sensei.' Then, strangely enough, Kakashi appeared in in front of her in a cloud of smoke.

"Yo, congrats on you and Naruto."

"Arigato, Kakashi-sensei, but I haven't told him how I feel yet." Sakura noticed that Kakashi was acting somewhat...strange. "Kakashi-sensei,You seem, worried is everything ok?"

"Of course-"

"Kakashi! Where the hell are you!"

"Well, look at the time, I've gotta go, see ya!" with that Kakashi vanished. Soon afterwards Anko ran up to the group.

"Hey guys, you haven't seen Kakashi by any chance, have you?"

Tsunade smiled, "Yes, I think he went that way. You just missed him."

"Arigato Tsunade-sama." Anko ran off after the silver haired Jounin.

"Tsunade-sama, that was really cruel."

"Haha, it's good for him. He'll thank me for this someday. Now, everyone, lets take our places. It's time to start the festival."

* * *

Tsunade looked out over the people that had all gathered together. On the stage she was surrounded by all of the surviving shinobi of Konoha. She looked over at Jiraiya who just stood there, smiling, before turning to address the crowd.

"Today, is the beginning of a new era, a new time, in all our lives. It is a time of sorrow, a time of celebration, a time in which we will honor those who have given their lives to protect Konoha, a time in which we give thanks to those who have helped us in our greatest time of need." Tsunade glanced over at Gaara, and the crowd applauded the Kazekage.

"But most importantly, we honor those who have survived, who continue to protect us. The brave souls that protected Konoha in its last moments, and will continue to protect us in this new Nation." Tsunade waved her hand behind her, directing everyone's attention to the shinobi on the stage.

Tsunade cleared her throat before continuing, "On a more serious note, we are here to bury our old lives. Konoha is no more, it was destroyed, burned to the ground. But from the ashes we will rise again, and become an even greater nation. Reviving the spirit of fire in all of us, we will once again become great. We will restore the Nation of Fire, and we will protect those who can't protect themselves. Now, let the Shinsei no Matsuri begin!"

The crowd cheered as everyone departed to take part in the festivities. As Naruto started to leave he was stopped by Sakura.

"Naruto, would you like to go to the festival with me?" Naruto just stared at her, seeing how well the dress hugged her well proportioned body. Sakura blushed from how Naruto was looking at her.

'God she's beautiful.'

"Naruto, Hellooo, Naruto!" Naruto smiled at her, "Sure, Sakura-chan, I'd love to go to the festival with you." Sakura grabbed Naruto's hand, causing him to blush before dragging him off.

Everyone enjoyed playing the games, the food, it was all fantastic. Sakura spent the entire time with Naruto, and had a lot of fun. Naruto had won her a stuffed fox at one of the games, and she carried it proudly, while leaning her head on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto just smiled as they continued to walk towards the platform near the Hokage's tower. Something about a closing ceremony, or something. Naruto couldn't remember.

On their way back, Naruto stopped and looked up at the sky.

"Wow, it's sure getting dark outside early."

Sakura looked up, "Those are rain clouds, baka. I thought it was going to rain today, but maybe not."

Sakura and Naruto walked onto the stage, and as they did Tsunade smiled and winked at Sakura.

Sakura giggled as Naruto just scratched his head, blushing slightly.

Tsunade then instructed all the shinobi to throw their old Konoha forehead protectors into a big pile in front of the stage. After they were all collected, a fire was started and all watched as fire consumed every last one of the forehead protectors.

"With this, Konoha is now officially no more. It now only exists in our history, and our memories. Now, I ask you all to join me, together in one voice, as we announce the birth of our new village. As we rise from the ashes. The village hidden in the Flames, We are Honoogakure!" Everyone in the crowd threw up their hands and cheered.

"Now, will all of the shinobi of Honoogakure approach me, and I will give you your new head protectors. All bearing our new emblem."

Tsunade held up a new head protector, which had a picture of a small flame engraved upon it, with the flame kanji in the center of it. All of the shinobi approached Tsunade, and she tied the new forehead protectors around their heads, announcing their names and rank as she did.

"And last, but not least, Naruto Uzumaki. Rank...Chuunin!" Naruto stopped, and stared at Tsunade, before embracing her in a tight hug.

"Arigato, Tsunade-sama." Tsunade just smiled 'Guess the brat can be respectful at times.' Naruto turned to see Sakura standing beside him, holding his new head protector.

"Tsunade-sama, I'll take care of this one." Naruto began to blush bright red as she tied it around his forehead, and as she pulled away she wispered "Happy Birthday, Naruto-kun." Naruto smiled as tears started to form in his eyes, he noticed all of the other Shinobi wathcing him, smiling. 'Wow, maybe this birthday won't be so bad after all.'

Naruto turned around to face the crowd, they had cheered for everyone else but were being surprisingly quiet at the moment. That's when he noticed their frowns, their looks of disgust directed towards him. Just as he started to turn away from the glares a kunai flew by his head, cutting the head protector from, well, his head. Naruto stood, shocked, as blood trickled down the side of his face.

Tsunade turned towards the crowd and shouted "Who dares to do such a thing on such an important day?!" That's when she noticed Danzou standing in the center of the crowd. Danzou smiled as the sky became darker, thunder and lightning pealing across the sky more frequently.

"I don't believe you, making a demon like him a Chuunin. Why, if anything, he deserves to die so we can finally be rid of the Kyuubi." About half of the people in the crowd shouted in agreement.

"Danzou, this is treason! How dare you challenge my authority!" Danzou actually started to laugh, very softly.

"Authority? You forget, this is a new nation, you don't have any authority just yet. Because there isn't any legal documents showing you have authority. Besides, I think it's time we had a new Hokage...me."

The people in the crowd that sided with Danzou all ran forth towards Naruto. Naruto just stared at them, not believing what was happening.

'Well, now I guess it's officially my birthday.' Naruto took his eyes of the enraged crowd that was charging at him, and looked up towards the sky as a light rain started to fall.

**(A/N): **Well, there's another chapter. I'll try to update more often now. So please, just bear with me. I'm nearing the end of my fluff writing, and I'm going to try to do some serious stuff, i guess you could call it. Well, read and review please. peace to you all.


	6. Battle for Supremacy

Well, it's me again. Here's the next chapter. I'm really happy with the reviews I've been getting. The opinions and ideas, some of them I will try to use, can't say that I can use all of them. But I enjoy reading the reviews, so please, keep reviewing. I tried to really use one of my all time favorite characters in this chapter. See if you can guess which one. Well, not much else to say. I hope you really enjoy the chapter, please read and review. And I'll do my best to update the next chapter as soon as I can. Well, on with the story then.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto

**Chapter 6: **Battle for Supremacy

"Lord Otokage, two of the three scouts that you sent out have returned. They found out where the new base is, we now know where they're hidden."

Sasuke, broken from his thoughts, looked up at the shinobi "Good." Sasuke closed his eyes, leaning over with his elbows on his knees, and resting his chin in his hands.

"And what of the third?"

"His status is unknown Otokage-sama, he apparently went out to survey the outside border of Suna, and disappeared."

"Hmm, probably the Kazekage's doing. No matter, he will be dealt with soon enough. You may take your leave now."

"Hai," the Sound nin vanished in a burst of gray smoke.

Sasuke stood up and stretched before turning towards the entrance of his chambers, "Well Kabuto, I'm sure you were listening intently."

Kabuto appeared in the room, and stood facing the Otokage, smiling as he pushed his glasses up his nose.

"Yes, Sasuke-sama, and I think I already know what you want me to do."

"Really, if you do then why are you still standing in front of me?"

"Because, Lord Otokage, you haven't given me a command yet."

Sasuke smiled, before his face took on a very hard appearance, cold, emotionless. Sasuke flared his chakra causing the room to shake, but Kabuto stood firmly before the Otokage, though clearly nervous.

"Assemble a cell of four shinobi, including yourself, and go to retrieve them for me. They are necessary to complete my ambitions. And one other thing, if you mock me again, I will kill you."

"Yes Sasuke-sama." Kabuto bowed to the Otokage before leaving the chamber.

* * *

The angry crowd of people continued to rush at the blond shinobi, and he just stood there, staring at the clouds as the rain covered his face.

'Why? Why does this always happen? Why won't they accept me?'

The crowd was inches away from him, ready to attack, when a wall of sand burst in between the mob and Naruto.

"Danzou was it, you're right, there are no legal documents giving Tsunade-sama any authority, or anyone else for that matter. And until then, you and all of the others here have to answer to me."

A man from the crowd shouted at the Kazekage, "Why should we have to listen to you! Weren't you a demon just like him! You're just--" The man was covered with the Kazekage's sand before he could finish his rant, and was soon brought onto the stage.

Gaara looked out over the crowd and cleared his throat, "Let me make this clear to all of you. Right now, you don't have land, you don't have a home. The Nation of Fire was destroyed, completely. Even the Daimyo was destroyed during the war with Otogakure. Right now, you're all guests of Suna, and you have all built your homes inside Suna. Which means that you're all under my jurisdiction. And until I relinquish this land to the designated Hokage, you will all obey my orders. Or be executed for treason." Gaara held up his hand and slowly closed his fingers _"Sabaku Sousou"_ (Desert Coffin) and the sand holding the man on stage exploded, leaving nothing but stains of blood here and there, which was quickly washed away by the rain.

Gaara then turned and looked at the horrified crowd, many of whom left after witnessing the Kazekage's execution of the man on stage. Though a few people remained, still determined to get rid of the Kyuubi-container. "Let this be an example to you, treason of any kind will not be tolerated. And as for you, Danzou, you will be imprisoned until a trial can be held to judge you for your actions today." Gaara held up his hands and sent his sand towards Danzou.

Sand started wrapping around the old man, and was quickly followed by a loud explosion. Gaara stared at the man, whose cane was crackling with some sort of lighting jutsu.

"Don't think me weak, child, just because I'm old. I was just as strong as the Sandaime, so don't think that you can rid yourself of me easily." Danzou quickly raised his cane and rammed it into the ground, a pulse of chakra surged out from the old man. Quickly ANBU from root appeared encircling the stage.

"WHAT! Where did all of these ANBU come from?!" Tsunade shouted at Danzou, "If they had been in the fight with Otogakure, Konoha may not have been destroyed!"

"Heh, I held them back. I was hoping that Orochimaru would kill all of you, and then using the root I would become the new Hokage and build a new nation. The problem was, and still is, that too many of you are still alive after the war. So, I'm going to fix that right now. And, I can possibly add Suna to my new empire as well, all I have to do is rid myself of you, Gaara of the Sand."

Danzou waved his hand, and the ANBU began their assault, and thus began the battle for supremacy.

* * *

Immediately, two of the ANBU converged on Naruto, who has still yet to move from where he was standing. They raised their swords, ready to cleave Naruto's head from his shoulders. Naruto looked away, waiting. 'They'll never accept me. I'm just a demon.'

But instead of the blows, Naruto felt blood splatter onto his face, and heard a familiar voice, _"RAIKIRI" _Naruto looked to see to glowing hands sticking through the ANBU's chests, "Come on Naruto," Kakashi said, staring intently at him, "Get your head out of the clouds and pay attention. I would expect this from Shikamaru, but not you."

"I heard that!" Shikamaru had bound a group of the rebelling villagers with his shadow, and held them as Temari quickly disposed of them.

"We make a good team, eh crybaby?"

"Eh, troublesome woman. Come on Naruto, move your ass. Are you going to let a woman out do you?"

"What?" Shikamaru nodded to something behind Naruto.

Naruto turned and saw Sakura pulverize some poor ANBU member, whose mask split in half as he flew into a nearby tree. 'Heh, he may be bad, but I wouldn't wish that punch on anybody.' thought Naruto as he rubbed his head.

"Hell No! I won't let Sakura-chan beat me! Sakura turned and saw five Naruto's take of into the crowd, scattering Shinobi and Villagers as they went. Sakura smiled as she took off after Naruto. 'Somebody has to keep an eye on him.'

**Damn straight! Nobody is going to hurt my man!**

'Oh no, not you again. I thought I left you tied up somewhere in the back of my mind.' Inner Sakura smiled triumphantly as she flashed a peace sign.

**Oh, you did, but you forget I'm a ninja too. Sort of, still, it took me a while to get out. Now that I'm free though, I'm going to protect my man, and then I'm going to...**

Sakura shook her head, blushing slightly, as she stopped Inner Sakura from revealing her dirty little fantasies about Naruto. There will be time for that later.

'Just shut the hell up, I'll deal with you later. Right now I have more important things to focus on.' Sakura dodged an incoming kunai.

**Fine, we'll chat later.** Inner Sakura faded away, leaving Sakura to the business at hand.

Sakura was right behind Naruto when another ANBU appeared beside her and slashed at her with a kunai, cutting part of her dress. Sakura stopped, flames in her eyes. "This was a new dress, and, and now look at it, IT'S RUINED!" Sakura threw a kick at the Anbu, the ANBU tried to block, but the blow shattered his arms completely. Using the momentum Sakura grabbed him by his ankle and slammed him into the ground, blood and rocks flying everywhere. The ANBU member didn't move after that.

Sakura was so angry she didn't see that another ANBU had come up behind her. Just as the ANBU was prepared to strike two large arms grabbed the ANBU, crushing him. Sakura turned and saw Chouji and Ino standing behind her.

"Get your head out of the clouds forehead, this is a war, not a dance. Besides, you can always make Naruto buy you a new dress."

Sakura thought it over briefly, and smiled shaking her head, "Yeah, I guess Naruto will be able to buy me lots of things." Ino smiled at her friend. Sakura looked at Chouji, a serious look on her face. "You haven't been cleared yet, so no overdoing it. If you start having any pain, get out of here."

Chouji started to speak before Ino cut him off, "He knows forehead, I already told him. You forget I'm a medic-nin too. Now come on Chouji, we've got work to do." Chouji shrugged his shoulders and sighed. As they left Sakura turned to try and find Naruto again.

Lee came skidding to a halt, with an ANBU slung over his shoulder. He took a deep breath before sticking out his thumb and smiling. "Neji, my eternal rival, I've already defeated 5 ANBU members, how are you fairing?"

Neji appeared next to Lee, and reached up an arm to wipe the sweat from his face. "Lee, this isn't a competition, this is serious. We're fighting experienced ANBU members from the 'Root' so we really have to concentrate. Besides, I've already defeated 7." Neji smirked as Lee dropped the ANBU from his shoulder.

"Yosh! I will not lose to you Neji! If I do...I'LL WAX MY EYEBROWS!" Lee once again struck his pose, teeth shining brighter (**A/N: **is that even possible?).

Neji smiled, "Now that's something worth beating you for. Tell you what, if I win...I get to wax them myself."

"Deal." Both shinobi nodded at one another before disappearing back into the battle.

Sakura landed on the platform in front of the Kage tower. After leaving Ino and Chouji she had resumed her search for Naruto, but couldn't find him in all the carnage. So she decided to get to the platform to take a look around.

She could see Kiba and Hinata coming up on two ANBU hidden in the trees, while Akamaru followed closely behind carrying an ANBU in his jaws. She could see her teacher, holding one ABNU in her hands like a baseball bat and swinging him violently, completely scattering surrounding ninja. One corner of the festival grounds (remember, there at a festival) was almost black, the buzzing of bugs in there air almost drowning out the sounds of the battle. The other side seemed to be covered with...toads. Sakura winced as she saw them, toads were just so, gross. But, she thought she could forgive Naruto, and maybe even learn to like them. Besides, who is she to complain, Tsunade taught her to summon slugs.

"Why is this so difficult. I only know like three or four blonds, and I'm trying to find the loudest one of them all. Where the hell is he!" Despite her tone, she was beginning to worry a little, thoughts of Naruto dying flashing in her minds eye. She shook her head trying to rid herself of the images. She was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she failed to see the ANBU that was coming up behind her.

"Rasengan!" Sakura turned to see Jiraiya drive the jutsu into the ANBU stomach, before flying off.

Sakura stared at the sannin briefly, "A-arigato, Jiraiya-sama."

"You need to pay more attention, I don't want to have to tell Naruto that his girl was killed by an ANBU while she was busy looking for him. There would be hell to pay."

Sakura blushed briefly, bowing her head slightly as if ashamed.

"Don't worry though, he's fine. He's just a few yards north of this place, going after Danzou, you can go after him if you want."

"But, don't you-"

"Go, we can take it from here." Gaara said as he slowly approached, the sand behind him spreading out amongst the fighting.

"Hai." Sakura bowed to them both before taking off towards the direction Jiraiya had pointed.

'Don't worry Naruto-kun, I'm coming."

* * *

"Well Demon, looks like its come down to you and me. Though, you won't be able to defeat me."

"Ha, an old man like you, don't make me laugh. I'm going to beat the hell out of you for disrespecting the Hokage like that!"

"I see, this is because you still want to become Hokage yourself, right."

"Right! How did you know?"

"I know many things, child, about every person. I could tell you many things about anybody you want."

"Really, then tell me something about myself that even I don't know." Naruto got into a fighting stance, waiting on Danzou.

"I know that you'll never become Hokage."

"WHAT! SHUT UP YOU DAMNED OLD FOOL!"

"My my, what a temper we have. You'll never be Hokage with that kind of temper."

"Bullshit! Obaa-chan is Hokage and her temper is WAY worse than mine."

"Whatever, but you could never hope to be Hokage. You have to be strong, strong enough to help those around you, right? Isn't that what you think the Hokage is?"

"Damn straight!"

"Well then, how could you hope to be Hokage when you didn't even have enough strength to save the Uchiha boy."

"_What..."_ Naruto started to give in to Danzou's taunts, slowly the Kyuubi was starting to take over. One tail slowly starting to appear.

"You know what I said, you couldn't save him. You broke your promise to bring him back, didn't you. You let the pink haired girl down, didn't you."

"_Stop it..." _Naruto's eyes started to glow slightly, a snarl escaped the back of his throat.

Sakura ran up to the two "Shut up! You have no idea what you're talking about!" Sakura glared at the old man before turning towards Naruto, she could see that his words hurt Naruto deeply.

"Oh but I do, you see, I also know the Demon really cares about you. Wants to make you happy. I know how you love the Uchiha boy, and how he promised to bring him back just to make you happy. I know everything."

"STOP IT! I DON"T LOVE SASUKE! I LOVE--" Sakura was cut off when Naruto flared his chakra knocking everyone around him to the ground.

Red chakra encased his body, and slowly Naruto started to take on the appearance of the fox demon, two long ears a tail started to form. Naruto thrashed violently as if trying to stop it, but he was failing.

Naruto turned around and looked at Sakura, tears streaking his face.

"_SaKura-CHan, I-iM, SorRY..." _Naruto turned and disappeared into the forest. A few seconds later a loud explosion was heard in the forests.

"Dammit" Jiraiya came running up to where Sakura stood, staring out at the forests into which Naruto had disappeared into.

"How many tails?"

"J-just one.." Sakura continued to stare out in the woods 'Naruto, please, just stop.' Inner Sakura was crying. **Noooooo!**

Jiraiya yelled out, calling the rookie 9 and team Gai over to them.

"Listen, Naruto is in trouble. We have to go after him."

Neji walked up to the Sannin, "Sure, but do you need all of us to go."

"Yes, with the Kyuubi's chakra flowing in him, Naruo to will be very difficult to deal with.

"troublesome..." Temari hit Shikamaru over the head. "Quiet you, this is serious." Shikamaru rubbed his head, but didn't say anything else.

Neji spoke up, "Look, I want to save Naruto just as bad as you guys, but we still have a lot to take care of here."

"Don't worry, the two Kage's have everything under control. They're actually probably rounding up the last of the ANBU now. Besides we need all of you to help bring him out of this." Jiraiya paused, "None of you have yet to see him when the Kyuubi takes over, have you?"

All but Sakura shook their head.

"This will be very difficult indeed, we have to get close enough so that I can put this seal on his head." Jiraya held up a piece of paper with markings that read _'O Fuin'_ (Subdue Seal). "But the Kyuubi's chakra will try and protect him, so it will take all of us to distract him so that I can place this on his head. If Yamato hadn't died in the fight with Otogakure, this wouldn't be a problem. But with him gone, using this seal is the only way to stop him. And we have to stop him, before the seal holding the Kyuubi completely breaks, I'll explain everything in more detail as we travel."

Jiraiya turned to leave, only to be stopped by Danzou.

"How dare you just ignore me like that, I'll finish all of you off right here, right now."

Danzou started to go through some seals, only to be stopped by Gaara's sand.

"All of you go, the old man and I have a score to settle."

"Thank you, Kazekage-sama," said a teary eyed Sakura.

"Come along, we have to hurry." Jiraiya vanished, being followed by the other young shinobi.

"Well boy, you made a mistake, this time I will kill you." "Danzou smiled, and quickly finished making his seals and ... nothing happened.

"What, why isn't the jutsu working. What's going on!" Gaara's sand rose higher and gripped the old man tighter.

"I think I know Danzou-sama." Danzou turned and saw one of his root ANBU had survived.

"Quick, you have to help me. Get me out of here."

The ANBU quickly raised his mask, revealing his face. "I don't think I can do that, Danzou-sama, because you tried to hurt my friends."

"What, Sai, oh my God!" Sai smiled, as did Gaara, who started to form handseals rather quickly. _"Sabakurou" _(Desert Prison)

The shinobi trailing Naruto flinched as they heard a scream pierce through the forests, but it was quickly silenced. They paid no attention to it, however. Right now their main concern was on the blond shinobi they were trailing. He was in trouble, though they didn't know what kind of trouble. They all looked at the white haired Sannin as they ran through the trees, and heard him sigh.

"Well, I guess I should tell you whats going on, shouldn't I. Where to begin..."

**(A/N): **Well, there you go. I hope you enjoyed it. Please, read and review. well, peace to you all.


	7. Confessions

Well, it took a little longer than I thought it would to get it up. After reading some reviews, I decided to have a little fun with this chapter. So I hope you enjoy it. I put a lot of stuff in this one, but hopefully it won't be anything bad. Well, this will be my last post for a while with the holidays coming up. But I will still be writing over the holidays, and should have the next chapter up sometime beofre New Years. Well, with that, on with the chapter.

Disclaimer: Sorry, but I still don't own Naruto

Chapter 7: Confessions

Jiraiya stared off into the forest ahead of him, looking at trees that had been twisted in half, rocks that had been scorched, small fires still burning here and there. Naruto had been here.

"Jiraiya-sama..."

"Hn" Jiraiya turned to see the Sakura staring at him, trying her best to keep from crying. He smiled at the kunoichi, happy to see someone so worried about his pupil.

"Weren't you going to tell us what's going on, about Naruto I mean."

"Yes, I suppose now is as good as time as any. I'm sure you've noticed how Naruto has redecorated the forest." The shinobi nodded. "This won't be easy, Naruto is clearly pissed about something. And the Kyuubi is using it to try and take over, permanently."

"Using what?" Kiba asked, still not completely sure of what was going on.

"His anger, pure rage, depression. All of the negative emotions that Naruto has saved up all through his childhood."

"How, Naruto-kun was always smiling, he always seemed so happy." Hinata said, staring off in front of her, noticing a red glow softly pulsing in the forest ahead.

Jiraiya smiled at the kunoichi, and softly laughed to himself. "You would think that wouldn't you. The way he smiles you would never thing anything bad ever happened to him. None of you really knows what happened to him when he was a child, do you?"

Jiraiya explained to the shinobi about all the cruel things that the villagers did to Naruto. How they torched his home, beat him, mocked him, painted his house with graffiti. He told them about various times they had to wait on the blond shinobi before going on a mission, about the real reason Naruto would be late. Because the villagers would stop him, and hurt him. Then he would show up, and act as if nothing had happened. To say that the shinobi were shocked would be an understatement.

Kiba was the first to speak, "Why! Why didn't he tell us! Why did he...hide that from us!"

Shikamaru looked at a loss for words, "I...never knew..."

Sakura's tears quickly gave way to anger, "Those...Those bastards! I'll rip them apart!" Sakura punched a near by tree turning it into splinters.

"Ahhh, I've taught her well."

Jiraiya looked behind him to see Tsunade, Gaara, Sai, and Kakashi quickly approaching.

"Hm, finally decided to join us. I take it Danzou is dead."

"No, he's not."

"What! You let him live!"

"Well, lets just say he's in good hands." Gaara smiled, and Jiraiya quickly had to turn his head away from the Kazekage.

"How did you beat him, anyway?"

"I think I can explain that," said Sai.

_--Flashback--_

_Sai and Gaara stared down at the bloody body of Danzou, who looked up at the two, weakly._

"_h-how, wh...what did y-you do to m..me..."_

_Sai smiled at the old man, "Earlier this morning, when you briefing us on the attack on the Hokage, I slipped a special kind of drug into the tea you were drinking. This drug, it acts very slowly. It takes hours, sometimes even days before it finally takes affect. It's a poison that slowly closes off all of your chakra points. I stole it from the Hokage's office a long time ago." Sai smiled at the old man on the ground._

"_During the fighting he came to me and told me what he had done, so I waited until the poison finally took effect. And you pretty much know what happened after that."_

"_So, are you going to kill me?"_

"_No, there's no need. I've crushed your arms, your legs, and your lower spine. You'll never be able to perform jutsus again. You won't even be able to walk without someone to aid you. So I'm just going to leave you here. In case we need something to distract Naruto. Judging by the way things look, Naruto will be a tough one to deal with."_

_Gaara looked up at the forest, which looked like it was on fire._

"_Sai, was it. We should go and follow the others. They could probably use some help. And as for you, I'll leave you in the capable hands of my sibling."_

_Gaara and Sai disappeared into the forest, as Kankuro walked up to Danzou._

"_Well gramps, looks like it's just you and me. Here, let me help you up." Kankuro attached chakra strings to the old man, and slowly began to walk him away._

"_Why don't we go and find something fun to do. I heard from that Shino guy that there was a large mound of fire ants over here. Why don't we go and keep them company."_

_--End Flashback--_

"After we left, we met up with Tsunade-sama and Kakashi, and then we found you." Sai finished his story.

Ino stared blankly at Gaara.

"What?"

"Nothing...I just don't want to think of what your brother is going to do to that guy." Gaara smiled.

"Well, Jiraiya, since we're all here, would you mind explaining to us, JUST WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH NARUTO!!"

"Hokage-sama, please calm down. I'm sure Jiraiya-sama was just getting to that." Kakashi looked at Jiraiya, who furiously nodded his head in approval.

"Well, as I was saying earlier, the Kyuubi feeds off of all Naruto's negative emotions. Since that is all that the Bijuu are, pure raw dark emotions. They didn't start out that way mind you. The Bijuu were summoned a long time ago during times of great war, by powerful shinobi who were trying to rule everything, and everyone. They were used to slaughter thousands of innocents, devouring their chakra, their very souls, to become stronger. In the process, they took all of the hate, anger, jealousy, greed, all of the negative feelings. Soon, they became powerful enough to rebel against the shinobi that had summoned them."

Jiraiya stopped as an explosion rocked the forest , all the shinobi had to stop and brace themselves against the trees to keep from falling.

"We're very close now, Naruto is probably just about 30 or 40 yards ahead of us. We should wait a while and see what happens."

The shinobi quickly moved to the forest floor and hid, waiting for Jiraiya's signal to move.

"Jiraiya-sama, please finish telling us about Naruto." Jiraiya turned and saw Neji staring at him, somewhat fightened.

'Heh, even the Hyuuga is worried about him. Or just really scared, I can't tell.' Jiraiya smiled.

"Well, as I said, the Bijuu were summons, just like Gamabunta, or even Orochimaru's Manda. They were arrogant, shallow, and powerful, but they were only as bad as the person who summoned them. That is until they had devoured so many tainted souls, soon they become more powerful than any normal summon, and became dark, became evil. With the original summoner gone, there was no way to send them back to the other realm. So they continued to do what they were originally summoned to do, to destroy. Their power just continued to grow, and soon villages began to take notice of this. This eventually led people to try and capture them, and use their power."

"But they were too powerful, right, they couldn't be controlled." Sakura looked at the white haired Sannin.

"Right. And since they couldn't be controlled, people started to look for other ways to use them. This eventually led people to try and seal them inside themselves, thinking that if the Bijuu was inside them, they could control it. But it wouldn't work, adults couldn't contain the Bijuu, not successfully anyway. Shortly after being sealed, the Bijuu would break the seal and rip it's way out of the container. Eventually it was discovered that if sealed in a new born infant, the Bijuu's chakra would slowly start to merge with the child, allowing the child to contain the Bijuu. The Bijuu containers came to be called Jinchuuriki."

"I remember reading about Jinchiruuki. They were used as nothing more than weapons. No life, no other purpose, just used to destroy anything they were told to." Shikamaru closed his good eye. "How could people be so heartless."

Jiraiya continued with his history lesson, "Terrible wars were fought by the Jinchuuriki, and many died. Many Jinchuuriki died, despite their great power,though not because of the wars. But because of the people who sealed the Bijuu inside them in the first place. After people realized that the child would eventually absorb the Bijuu, they decided to only leave the Bijuu inside them for a set amount of time before they would remove the Bijuu and seal it in another child, and kill the original Jinchuuriki."

Gaara shivered, "It's a painful process, it feels like someone is ripping your body apart piece by piece. I wouldn't wish that on anyone." Temari put a consoling hand on her brother.

Lee looked up at the Sannin, a bit confused, "So what's all that got to do with what's happening to Naruto-kun."

"I told you that so you would all understand what I'm going to tell you next. Out of all the Bijuu, the Kyuubi was the greatest, it came to be known as the King of Demons. And it constantly appeared around what came to be known as the Country of Fire. The reason they called it the Country of Fire was because of the Kyuubi. After Konoha was founded, it became a great Village because of the Shodaime's ability to control the Bijuu. He could not defeat the Kyuubi, but he could make it submit, and send him away. Everyone came to the Shodaime asking for protection from the Kyuubi. It was this reason that the Shodaime eventually lost his life. After that, Kyuubi attacks became more and more frequent."

"The Kyuubi was a constant threat until my pupil, the Yondaime finally found a way to seal the Kyuubi away. By creating a new seal with the Death God himself, Shinigami. But it came at a price, the user had to pay with his soul. So, he sealed the Kyuubi away in his new born son, Naruto."

"Wait, so you're telling us that Naruto is the son of the Yondaime." Kakashi stared at Jiraiya shocked.

"Well, yes, I am."

All of the Shinobi sat, shocked at this new revelation. It was quiet for a while until Ino blurted out, "So that's where he got his good looks from." If only looks could kill, the glare that Sakura gave Ino would have sent her to at least the fifth level of hell.

The shinobi were brought out of there musings as a loud scream pierced the forests, followed by another explosion.

"That was Naruto!" Sakura started to run towards where the scream came from, only to be stopped by Jiriaya.

"Wait, just hold on. I have just a little more that I need to tell you." Sakura sat down, waiting for the Sannin to finish.

"I think you should hurry up, Jiraiya, or else she is going to rip you apart trying to get to Naruto." Jiraiya swallowed the rowing lump in his throat as Sakura sat back down, cracking her knuckles as she did."

"Right, right. You see, there was a reason that the Yondaime chose to put the Kyuubi in his own child. Yondaime was always a happy person, always smiled, just like Naruto. And remember how I told you that the Bijuu were fueled by the dark side of the human heart. Well, the Yondaime thought that if the Kyuubi was sealed inside a child that had a pure heart, the Bijuu would weaken, and would have been purified, eventually becoming a new kekkei genkai, like the Byakugan or the Sharingan, and that Naruto would pass this ability to all of his descendants. And from what I can tell, it would have been the ability to call upon the Kyuubi's tails, like Naruto does now. Except he and his descendants would be able to control it. This would give Naruto an ultimate Jutsu, allowing him to become a hero, and a protector of Konoha."

"How do you know all this Jiraiya-sama?" Jiraiya reached into a pouch on his back and withdrew a scroll with the seal of the Fourth on it.

"I found a letter that the Yondaime had left, explaining what the Seal he had created was meant to do. But the seal isn't working like it should. Something went wrong, and now the Kyuubi is trying to force its way out. And if the Kyuubi keeps forcing itself on Naruto like this, it will eventually kill him and the Kyuubi will be free once again."

"Well, then what's the problem, why isn't it working?" Sakura grabbed Jiraia and began to shake him. Jiraiya could see that all of the shinobi were starting to get very worried.

"Well, to be honest I can't tell you. I can't tell you how the seal works, The only way I would be able to tell how it works if if I closely studied it."

"Well, why don't you 'closely study' it?"

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"He'd have to be dead before I could study it properly." All of the shinobi were silenced at his answer.

"The only person that would be able to tell us how to fix this would be the Yondaime."

"There's got to be something we can do, right?"

"Well, there might be, but for now, we have to save Naruto before anything else can be done. Sakura, take this seal, while we distract Naruto, I want you to put this on his forehead. It should bring him out of this, then we can take him home and figure out what to do from there."

Sakura took the seal and wiped away the tears that were forming in her eyes. ' I'm coming for you Naruto, just hold on.'

* * *

The group of shinobi crept up to a clearing in the forest. Trees laid broken and splintered, craters and broken rocks covering the ground, and in the middle of it all stood Naruto. Red chakra wisping around his body, two tails floating behind him. His jacket, vest, sandals, pretty much all of his clothing was ripped to pieces. Except for his pants, which were ripped, and soiled with blood and dirt. His body was covered with blood and scratches. Large wounds in his arms and stomach were the most noticeable.. But the thing that stood out the most, was his eyes. Both had a slit down the middle, like a fox normally would, but one eye was red, and the other blue.

"Jiraiya!" Jiraiya turned to look at Tsunade, who stared at him somewhat confused. "Why isn't he healing, why isn't the Kyuubi healing his wounds anymore?"

"Well, you all noticed how after his meeting with Sasuke his wounds didn't heal. It's just like that."

"But you said it was because of the Chidori that his wounds weren't healing properly."

"Well, I lied. The truth is that the Kyuubi stopped healing his wounds. The Kyuubi stopped healing his wounds as soon as the seal started to weaken. Instead, with the weakening seal, he's trying to tear his way out of Naruto's body."

"**_Come on out, I can hear you over there..."_**

The shinobi cringed at the voice they heard, it sounded pained, like an animal that was dying. Slowly all the shinobi approached Naruto, and surrounded him.

"**_I see, so you came to save the child...he doesn't deserve to be saved. Why don't you just let him die."_**

"Shut your mouth you damn fox! Don't treat me like I'm not here! I can hear every damned thing you say!"

"Naruto, what's going on? How are you and the Kyuubi here at the same time?"

"I don't know, it's never happened before."

"Naruto, what's been going on out here, you've really done a number on the forest." Jiraiya started to move closer to Naruto, while nodding for Gaara to do the same.

"Heh, the fox and I were having a little argument."

"**_So, you're going to try and send me back into that prison. Well, no use in dragging it on, is there. Come and stop me."_**

Naruto spit a large amount of blood on the ground, and when he looked back up he let out a slow growl, both eyes a dark crimson red.

"NOW!"

Gaara sent his sand out to capture Naruto, no, he's not Naruto right now. They were fighting the Kyuubi. The sand slowly wrapped its way around him.

"Gaara be careful! We don't want to hurt Naruto more than he is already!"

"I know, but it's not easy trying to hold him like this, I'm not sure how long I can hold him like this."

Shikamaru ran up next to Gaara, and wrapped Kyuubi-Naruto with his shadow. "I'll do what I can to help. You others hurry up!"

"**_GUAAAAH!" _**Shikamaru's shadow slowly started to turn red.

"What! What's going on!"

Temari ran towards Shikamaru. "Get out of there you two!"

Kyuubi-Naruto threw out his arms, breaking the sand and shadow jutsus, sending the two shinobi flying into a nearby rock face. Temari quickly ran to the two shinobi's side, and quickly started to apply a basic medical jutsu to them.

"**_Pathetic, you think you can stop me with such weak shinobi!"_**

Two arms suddenly burst out of the ground, grabbing Kyuubi-Naruto's feet, and started pulling him into the ground. The rookie 9 and team Gai surrounded him.

Lee started out towards Kyuubi-Naruto, "Naruto-kun, please stop this. You're stronger than the demon, snap out of it."

"**_Heh, hehe, HAHAHAHA! You think he can hear you! Soon this bastard child will be dead, and I will be free. Once I'm free, the first thing I'll do is devour all of you. Starting with you." _**Kyuubi-Naruto looked over towards Sakura, and licked his lips. **_"You know that he cares about you deeply, even loves you. So that's why I'll eat you first. Then again, maybe not. I should actually thank you."_**

"What are you talking about?"

"**_Why because your part of the reason that I am even able to be here right now. You broke the poor childs heart, you hurt him deeply. Always going after the Uchiha, and always being mean to him. He was always happy, always able to shrug off everything the villagers did to him. But when you rejected him, you sent him into a deep depression, and slowly the seal started to weaken. The seal only works when he is happy, when he experiences pure emotions. But thanks to you, you freed me."_**

"Wh-what..."

"**_I was only able to come out so far at first. But after the Uchiha boy left, and you had him make that promise, to bring back the love of your life. He lost hope, that was almost the most broken he had ever been. Then, after the fight with the Uchiha boy, after being impaled through the chest by, and actually almost dying when his neck was broken, that's when he lost everything."_**

"I...I..." Sakura began to cry softly.

"Sakura! Don't listen to him, he's playing with your head!"

"B-but, he's telling the truth, I did do that."

"**_Ahh, you see, I find that the truth is the most painful thing to use when talking to mortals."_**

"I was foolish, and I did a lot of mean things to Naruto, but no more. I'm going to take care of Naruto now."

"**_Heh, pathetic. If you were smart, instead of listening to me, you would have tried to stop me. But you chose to just stand around, all of you, and let the sharingan user's trap go to waste. Mortals are so...pitiful."_**

Kyuubi-Naruto dug his hands into the ground and chakra exploded from the ground scattering all the shinobi across the forest. He then picked up Kakashi and threw him into Jiraiya, knocking him to the ground.

"Umph! Idiot, what are you doing!"

"Sorry, Jiraiya-sama, but thanks for catching me." Jiraiya threw Kakashi off of him and got up.

Shino quickly recovered and came up behind Kyuubi-Naruto, his bugs quickly beginning to swarm Kyuubi-Naruto, devouring the red chakra. As they did, they slowly burst into flames, until almost all of the bugs that Shino had summoned were nothing but dust.

"_**Nice try, but I've dealt with your kind before."**_ One of the red tails lashed out wrapping itself around Shino's body, before launching him into a nearby rock.

Neji and Hinata, seeing that he was distracted, quickly activated their Byakugan and ran up to Kyuubi-Naruto to try and close off all of his chakra points. Hinata struck from behind while Neji flashed in front, and they both began to simultaneously strike him. Slowly the Red chakra started to dissipate, and Kyuubi-Naruto lowered his head. Neji and Hinata watched briefly before breathing a sigh of relief.

"_**Heh, just kidding."**_ Kyuubi-Naruto screamed, a huge burst of chakra exploding from his body knocking the two away. Tenten quickly ran over to address their wounds.

Lee stepped up, and quickly surveyed the situation. The only ones that weren't really injured were him, Sakura, and Ino. But Ino was currently attending to Chouji, who was still injured from all the precious fighting and had gotten re-injured when Kyuubi-Naruto destroyed the surrounding area when he escaped from Kakashi's trap.

Sakura stood, watching hesitantly, not really knowing what to do.

"Sakura-san, please, do not worry. I will stop Naruto-kun for you." Sakura turned as if to say thank you, but instead just remained silent. Lee then assumed a stance that Sakura was all too framiliar with.

"Hachimon!" (Eight Gates) chakra slowly started to seep around Lee's body. Kyuubi-Naruto just watched as if amused.

"_**This should be interesting, well, hurry up then."**_

"Initial gate, open!" Chakra began to pour out of Lee's body at a rapid pace now. Lee slowly started to raise his head. "Heal gate, open!" the Chakra began to spin, kicking up rocks and dirt around him, Lee's muscles and veins started to expand. "Life Gate, open!" the Chakra began to spin violently, Lee's muscles bulged, his skin starting to change color.

Kyuubi-Naruto watched with a smirk, Sakura noticed, almost as if he were excited about Lee's transformation.

"Harm gate, open!"

'Well, he won't be smiling for much longer, not after Lee finishes this.' Sakura smiled, watching Lee, though she hated to think about how much this will injure Naruto.

"LIMIT GATE, OPEN!" Chakra exploded, engulfing the area, as Lee took his stance once again, ready to attack.

"_**What, that's all. Surely you can open more gates than that...well then, come and get me."**_ Kyuubi-Naruto just smirked.

Lee locked eyes with Kyuubi-Naruto, "Five is all I'll need..." Lee quickly disappeared and began to pummel his foe.

Sakura watched as Lee beat upon Kyuubi-Naruto, and was shocked to see that Kyuubi-Naruto wasn't trying to fight back. In fact, he was smiling. Suddenly all that Jiraya said came back to her.

_The Kyuubi is trying to rip it's way out of Naruto...That's why it isn't healing him._

Sakura looked up as Lee was preparing his attack, realizing that the Kyuubi is using Lee's attack to escape from Naruto's body.

Lee grabbed Kyuubi-Naruto, the tape from his arms and legs wrapping themselves around Kyuubi-Naruto's body. The tape starting to burn from the Kyuubi's chakra.

"FINAL LOTUS!" Lee's started to beat Kyuubi-Naruto, thrusting his body at dangerous speeds towards the ground.

"LEE STOP! KYUUBI'S USING YOUR ATTACK TO ESCAPE FROM NARUTO!" Lee hesitated at her word and using the last of his chakra to move in front of Kyuubi-Naruto, and knock him out of the way. Lee struck the ground hard, and Kyuubi-Naruto flipped and landed gingerly on the ground a fair distance away. Sakura quickly ran over to Lee to heal his wounds.

"_**Stupid bitch, you would ruin a good thing now wouldn't you."**_ Kyuubi-Naruto smirked at the kunoichi before turning his attention towards the only two opponents left.

"Well Tsunade, looks like it's up to us." Jiraiya turned to look at Tsunade and saw that she had already rushed at Kyuubi-Naruto. "God, when she gets mad, she acts just like Naruto."

Jiraiya rushed in after Tsunade, and the two repeatedly exchanged blows with the beast. Tsunade throwing punches, and the Kyuubi blocking them, and Jiraiya following with blows of his own. Kyuubi-Naruto quickly retreated and stared at the two Sannin in front of him.

"We need to end this soon, I don't think Naruto's body will last much longer."

"**_You two are quite powerful. I'm having trouble keeping up with you in my current state. You're lucky, if I were free I would kill you with the flick of one tail."_**

"Tsunade, calm down. He's trying to make you angry."

"Well, it's working. And I'm not angry, I'M PISSED!"

"Calm down, we don't want to hurt Naruto. We just need to hold him down long enough so I can use the seal on him."

"Right, well, lets go get him."

Jiraiya started to form hand seals as Tsunade rushed the Kyuubi. _"Doton: Yo Mi Numa"_ (Earth Element: Yellow Spring Swamp) The ground around Naruto's feet transformed into a swamp causing the Kyuubi's feet to stick into it. Tsunade flew above the Kyuubi's head, and delivered a powerful blow. Kyuubi-Naruto tried to block it, but it ended up knocking him back into the swamp, completely immersing him in the swamp. Tsunade and Jiraiya landed at his side.

"Well, that should do it, now Jiraiya, hurry and use the seal so we can get out of here. The rain is really starting to get to me."

"Jiraiya reached into his jacket to pull out the seal...but couldn't find it. "Damn, where did I put it. Oh, shit, I gave it to Sakura."

"**_Oh, too bad, it was a nice try though."_** Fire started to rise from the Kyuubi's body, slowly burning the swamp around him, and the Kyuubi slowly started to peel his way out of the swamp.

"Dammit!" Tsunade lunged at the Kyuubi, only to be knocked back by one of it's tails. Jiraiya quickly stepped in the way and caught Tsunade as she sped away from the Kyuubi. The two skid across the ground and finally came to a stop at the edge of the clearing.

"**_That's all, hmmm, how disappointing. And here I thought they wanted to save the poor child. Heh...HAHAHAHA! Well, time to be freed from this hell!"_**

Kyuubi-Naruto began to form a Rasengan in both hands. And slowly raised his hands, and noticed that Sakura was slowly walking towards him.

"Naruto, stop, please."

"**_Come to get a first row seat have you, well, have fun watching him die."_**

Sakura lunged at Kyuubi-Naruto and wrapped her arms around him. "NO! Naruto! Snap out of it...please...don't leave me! I Love You!" Sakura tightly shut her eyes as she waited for what happened. She could feel the rain falling on her face, but noticed that this rain was warm unlike the rest that was falling. She slowly opened her eyes and was met by to deep blue eyes, tears streaming from them.

"SaKurA-ChaN...I-I LoVe You toO..." Sakura gripped him tighter as he passed out.

(A/N): Well, they finally said they love each other. The next chapter will be the beginning of the actual NaruSaku-ness. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. As always, please Review and tell me what you thought, and maybe what to do for later chapters, you know, the usual stuff. Well, I'll update as soon as I can, but until then, I wish all my readers a Merry Christmas, and hope that you all have a safe and satisfying Christmas as well. Peace to you all.


	8. The plan to save Naruto

Well, I got to update quicker than I thought I would. Family went home early, etc. etc., so I decided to finish the next chapter and update. I don't think anyone will complain, (Atleast I hope not.) So, yeah not much else to say. I didn't get to have this proofread, so there might be some errors. If there are any, just let me know and I'll try to fix them. Other than that, I hope you enjoy this chapter. That, and I hope you all had a good Christmas. Well, with that said, on with the chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own Naruto

**Chapter 8: **The plan to save Naruto

After Naruto had collapsed in her arms, she and all the other shinobi quickly returned to the Hokage tower. The journey back had been a quiet one, no one really saying anything. Sakura carried Naruto on her back, she refused to let anyone else carry him. After they had returned, they went to one of the guest rooms in the Hokage's tower, one usually reserved for a visiting diplomat.

Sakura hurriedly placed Naruto on one of the beds in the room, and quickly removed the little clothing he had on, leaving only his boxers. She quickly began healing his injuries as Tsunade began cleaning the blood and dirt from his body. All the shinobi just stood and watched as Sakura and Tsunade hurriedly tried to stabilize Naruto's condition. An hour later, Naruto was sleeping peacefully, taking one steady breath after another.

Sakura leaned back in her chair and sighed, watching the blond sleep peacefully.

"Tsunade-sama, why didn't we take Naruto to the new hospital. Without the proper equipment, we could have...lost him."

"I know Sakura, we took a big risk. But I don't want to put him in a public facility right now. He would be in danger there, people could come and try and hurt him. He will stay here, at least until I've made a public announcement, and found all of the people involved in the little rebellion."

Sakura turned back around and focused on tNaruto, "I see."

"This is all great, Naruto's back, everything is going just great. Just one problem, what do we do about the weakening seal! There's a chance that the Demon will try to free itself again, and this time it might kill Naruto and all of us with him!" Kiba relaxed a little, telling everyone what he needed to.

Shikamaru spoke up next, "He's right, there is still a big threat to the new village, and it's sleeping on that bed. Don't get me wrong, I've known Naruto longer than most of you, and I respect him for many things. But our duty is to the village after all, something needs to be done."

Shino was the next to speak, "What do we do though, we can't just throw Naruto out. The fox still might get loose, and if that happens there is a good chance that it might come after us again. And more people might die."

Kankuro was next, "So what, should we just kill him. I mean, if he dies doesn't the Demon die too. That would protect the village, right?"

"That's not an option! I won't let any of you kill Naruto!" Sakura shouted at the Sand-nin. "There's got to be something else we can do, right? Jiraiya-sama, you're an expert on seals, what do we do?"

Kankuro raised his hands in protest, "Sorry, I was just being sarcastic..." Temari quickly hit her brother over the head with her fan mumbling the word "idiot."

"I don't know. I already told you, I know nothing about the seal that was used. The only way I'd be able to study it is if Naruto was dead. The only person who would be able tell us what to do would be the fourth, and he's with Shinigami now." Jiraiya took on a real solemn look, and closed his eyes as if deep in thought.

Tsunade stood up and walked to the corner of the room, and pulled out the Forbidden Scroll. "The fourth summoned Shinigami to create the seal. I was reading and studying the various techniques and abilities of the previous Hokage. The seal itself is created by the Death god, so if we want any answers, we would have to go to the Death god himself. Since he both created the seal, and is our only connection to the fourth."

"There's one problem with that, every time Shinigami is summoned, he demands a soul for his services. As Hokage, you can't go and sacrifice the life of one shinobi for another. And there is no way in hell that I'll let you use your own soul to pay. Not now, your duty is to the village, not Naruto. Konoha...no Honoogakure needs you."

"How can you say that Jiraiya, he's your student! We can't just leave him alone!"

"I know that! Don't you think I'm worried too!"

"Then DO something!"

"I'm trying! But I don't know what to do!" Jiraiya paused, "I don't know..."

"Might I make a suggestion."

Everyone turned to the Kazekage, who had remained quiet the whole time.

"Okay, what do you have in mind." Jiraiya waved his hand in a sweeping motion towards the Kazekage.

"Let's use the prisoner, Danzou, I think his name was."

"What?"

"I was eventually going to Execute him for treason, since the power and authority of Honoogakure hasn't be established yet. But, why not just use him to pay Shinigami's price."

Jiriaya pondered what the Kazekage had suggested, "Well, he is going to be executed anyway. Very well, all of you rest up. Once Naruto has recovered, we shall summon the Death god and find out how to rid ourselves of the Kyuubi once and for all."

Tsunade watched as the white haired Sannin walked towards the door, "And where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going to go rest, I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow."

Tsunade cracked her knuckles, "Of what, gathering information for your books."

Jiraiya's face became solemn again, "No, I have to prepare everything for our trip." The shinobi eyed the Sannin questioningly. "Trip?" Jiriaya smiled, "You'll see."

Tsunade stared at the old Sannin, and smiled. "Well, in that case I'll come with you. You need a place to stay right, my quarters have an extra bed. The rest of you, you may retire to your homes. Take the next few days off, once Naruto has recovered, you will all be summoned to the tower and further instructions will be given then."

"And Sakura, I want you to stay here. You will live here with Naruto, monitoring his health."

Sakura blushed bright red, as Tsunade followed the rest of the Shinobi out of the door. She grabbed Jiraiya's shoulder and tugged him towards the staircase leading to her room. As she left she turned back to Sakura and winked, and turned once again and shut the door.

* * *

Naruto winced in pain as he tried to move. His body felt like Gamabunta had sat on him, or worse, like Sakura and Tsunade tag teamed him. He opened his eyes and looked around the room, it was nice. A lot nicer than his old apartment. Although, he couldn't quite remember how he got there. He tried to move, but realized his legs were weighed down by something. He looked down, and noticed a certain pink haired kunoichi asleep by his bedside, sitting in a chair and using his legs as a pillow.

Sakura raised her head when she felt Naruto move, and she was greeted by a bright pair of blue eyes. Naruto flashed his trade mark smile, and Sakura stood up tears forming at the corner of her eyes.

"Naruto, you IDIOT!" Sakura raised her hand and Naruto closed his eyes, waiting for the blow, but was shocked when she wrapped him in a tight hug. "I...I was so scared, I thought you were going to die."

Naruto wrappded his arms around the kunoichi and pulled her closer. Naruto had sat up, feet hanging off the side of the bed, and Sakura was now sitting on his lap, with her face buried in the crook of his neck. As Naruto sat with his arms tightly around Sakura, she began to cry harder. Loud sobs causing her entire body to shake.

"It's ok Sakura, I'm fine. Everything turned out alright."

"B-but, you almost...the Kyuubi...it almost killed you! I almost lost you! I-I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

Naruto smiled and continued to hold her, rocking her gently. When she finally stopped crying, she looked up, emerald eyes meeting blue, and smiled very softly.

"Sakura, everything will be fine, I promise. Besides, you all have a plan already to save me, don't you?"

"What, you heard all that, everything we talked about."

"Yeah, don't ask me how though. I was asleep, and somehow, I could just hear your voices. I know what's going on. So, believe me, everything will be fine. You won't lose me."

Sakura smiled and just held him tighter.

"Naruto, did you mean it?"

"Did I mean what?"

"Did you mean it when you said you loved me?"

"I meant every word, I love you with all my heart."

Sakura smiled at Naruto, as Naruto leaned in closer to Sakura.

"Naruto, I love you too. And I promise, I will take care of you, always."

Naruto pulled Sakura into a kiss. It was a shy kiss at first, but it quickly became more passionate. Naruto leaned back onto the bed, Sakura with him, all while deepening the kiss. Sakura's tongue graced the front of Naruto's lips, beckoning for entry, and Naruto opened his mouth. Both tongues darting back and forth. They kissed for what seemed like an eternity, only breaking apart for much needed oxygen.

Sakura blushed slightly, giggling very softly.

"What, what's so funny."

"I never thought that I would ever give my first kiss to you, Naruto Uzumaki."

"Disappointed?"

"Not at all." Sakura leaned in for another kiss, and eventually both fell asleep in each others arms.

* * *

Jiraiya laid next to Tsunade, holding her in his arms. Exhausted, and covered with sweat, and she was gently sleeping next to him.

'What a woman, I never knew that she could do that.' Jiraiya smiled pervertedly as images of what they just did flashed back in his mind. He then leaned over and pulled a book out of his clothes, and quickly tossed it out of an open window.

"Well, I won't be needing you anymore, I've found myself a real woman now."

Tsunade, woken by his sudden act, smiled and quickly kissed Jiraiya on the cheek. "I knew that I could turn you into a decent man somehow." Both quickly fell to sleep after that. It was going to be a long next few days. Naruto needed them now.

As the book flew out of the window, it hit a certain shinobi on the head. Shino bent over to pick up the book that had just hit him on the head, and read the cover.

'Icha Icha Paradise, I wonder what this is all about?'

Shino quickly turned to walk home, a blush and a perverted smile gracing his lips, though you couldn't see it due to the coat he was wearing covered most of his face.

**(A/N): **Well, there you go, another chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it. I should have the next one up in a couple of days. So, as usual, please review. Any ideas, comments, just help me out. This next part I could use the, inspiration I guess you could say. The next chapter is entitled "Summoning the Death god." Any ideas, well, you know. peace to you all.


	9. Author's Note

**Author's Note**

To all my readers. Thanks for the reviews, they really help alot. I've decided that I'm going to take a week to go and update the story. You know, fix my errors, put a little more details here and there, The works. So, for all of you that are reading the story, any ideas as far as the next few chapters go, the next story arc, or changes I should make to the original story (Punctuation, not enough detail, etc.) please message me so that I can make this a better story.

For example, one persone messaged me saying I haven't done much with the whole founding of a new nation idea. So, after the whole Shinigami arc (I'm going to fix the part where they talk about him) I will be focusing on the rising of the new nation. Any ideas for the Shinigami arc and The Rise of the new village are welcomed. I've already received a few ideas that I'm going to use.

Again, this is open to all the readers, I'm taking a week off of the normal story, to update and fix what I've done so far. Plus, I've had a request to do a oneshot so I'm going to try and work on that as well. So, I'm officially naming all of you my beta readers. And your duty is to review my work, and throw some new ideas to me. I think between your comments/ideas and my imagination, we can make a kick-ass story.

So, with that, I'm off to start work, I look forward to your reviews and ideas. Peace to you all and have a safe and happy new year!

-wordlessilence


	10. It's a Filler, With a Purpose

Hey, bet you never thought you'd hear from me again. Sorry about that, I've been really busy lately with school work, moving back TO school, plus doing the revisions, etc. etc. All in all it's been a busy time. But I'm back with another chapter. It's not the one I promised, sorry again. But there were some things I wanted to accomplish before I put up the chapter with Shinigami. I'm already working on that chapter, so I'll give some teasers in the end. Also, I've proofread all the previous chapters, and actually extended them. For example, I added more to the Danzou rebellion and to the Kyuubi fight. So if something in this chapter doesn't make sense, it's because I've added something. So be sure to check that out. (Long introduction, huh) And with that, on with the chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, but I do own this story

Also, big thanks to my beta-reader deafdrum, he's a great help. He's also writing a story called The Fall of Naruto, in case any of you readers want to check it out.

**Chapter 9:** It's a filler, With a Purpose

Naruto woke up early in the morning, and noticed that Sakura was still asleep in his arms. He winced as she snuggled into his chest, but he didn't dare wake her. He didn't want to disturb the loving and peaceful look on her face. After all they had been through the night before, she deserved to sleep.

He couldn't believe it, the girl of his dreams actually loves him. Naruto quickly brought his finger up to his face and bit it, "Ow!" 'Yep, definitely not dreaming.'

Sakura woke up when she heard Naruto, and quickly entered medic-mode, checking his condition.

"Sakura-chan, it's okay, I'm fine. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't dreaming." Sakura just stared at him confused. "I mean, I've always dreamed about you...and me. And I just wanted to make sure this was all real."

Sakura giggled at Naruto, before leaning in and giving Naruto a kiss. "It's not a dream Naruto-kun." Naruto just flashed his trademark grin, as he held tightly to Sakura.

"Besides, if this were a dream, I would be beautiful, and not covered in mud and blood, with wet clothes and ragged hair." Sakura said while quickly looking herself over, noticing she hadn't showered since before the Shinsei no Matsuri.

"It's okay Sakura-chan, you're amazingly beautiful no matter what."

"You're sweet, but that's no excuse to be filthy. Besides, we need to get you cleaned up as well, as well as get you some clothes." Sakura stared at Naruto's body, hungrily, noticing the defined muscles through all the bandages, while Naruto blushed bright red because he had just noticed that he was only wearing his boxers.

"I'm going to get cleaned up, then we'll see about getting you cleaned up. I'll need to clean and dress those wounds, so it would probably be best if I gave you a sponge bath." Sakura said as she went into the bathroom, closing the door behind her, but not before Naruto noticed the smile on her face.

Naruto looked around the room and saw his traveling pack on the floor. 'Guess Ero-Sennin brought it while we were asleep.' He walked over and quickly changed into his swim trunks (which were orange), and took out the only set of clothing he had left (the clothes he wears in part 2). He then quickly laid back down, and waited for Sakura to finish her shower. Slowly a smile much like Jiraiya's crept upon his face, 'I'm going to enjoy this.'

* * *

Shizune quickly made her way down the hall to the Hokage's quarters. A meeting was supposed to be held today to decide the fate of the traitors and to fill out all the paperwork with the Kazekage to once again become a nation. She opened the door, and quickly noticed Tsunade with Jiraiya in a VERY compromising position. She quickly shut the door and walked away, praying that they didn't notice her, and that she wouldn't have any nightmares about what she just saw.

* * *

Naruto sat in a large tub, no, it was bigger than large. It was HUGE! (Think of a wading pool that's as deep as a bathtub) They spared no expense in building the Hokage tower, and the bathroom was a prime example of that fact. A walk in shower in the back, two toilets, two sinks, sand color tile covering all the floor, a similar color paint on the walls. Naruto was going to enjoy living here, especially with Sakura. Naruto smirked, laughing lightly to himself.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing Sakura-chan, just happy."

Sakura smiled as she continued what she was doing. Sakura sat in the tub with Naruto, her hair pulled up in a bun, in a red two piece bikini. She was unwrapping Naruto's bandages, and cleaning all the dirt and blood off with a sponge.

Sakura dabbed the sponge lightly across his back, mud and blood melting from his body. She then reached over to a tray and pulled out a pair of surgeons scissors, and began to remove the crude stitches that she and Tsunade had created the night before. As she removed the stitches, she was careful to clean and disinfect the wounds, before using her chakra to close the wound.

After some time, she finished with his back and arms, and turned Naruto around to work on the front of his body, and his legs. She began to remove some stitches on his chest, she noticed him wince and she hesitated. Naruto smiled at her, and regaining her confidence she continued. She continued to wash and heal his chest, his stomach, and his legs, until Naruto looked almost normal again, except for some slight scarring.

She took the sponge and started to clean Naruto's face, to which he laughed and protested slightly, but soon gave in. Sakura looked at his healed, tan, body. His rippling abs, strong defined arms, calloused hands that, though tough, were surprisingly gentle. A slight blush crossed her cheeks as she looked over his body, she looked up and locked eyes with Naruto. Those eyes, so full of love, passion, and longing.

Naruto was thinking much the same thing. Sakura with her smooth, pale skin, that was just covered by the red two piece. He noticed the subtle curves of her chest, her slender waist and full hips. Her hands, long, slender, gentle. To think those are the hands that have pummeled him constantly. He looked up into her eyes, her beautiful jade eyes. Eyes full of love, passion, and longing.

Sakura straddled Naruto's waist, her hands wondering across his body, the firmness of the muscles. Naruto slowly wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her up into a passionate kiss. With the steam from the water, how they were wet, it was quite...romantic. They held, touched, and kissed for what seemed like hours, until they were both out of breath. Naruto placed his forehead against Sakura, both of their eyes closed, and softly wispered "I love you, Sakura-chan."

"I love you too Naruto." Naruto smiled the biggest smile Sakura had ever seen, she had never seen him so...happy.

Naruto stood up, and held out his hand to bring Sakura with him. "Well, lets go, I need to get some more clothes."

"Yeah, me too."

As Sakura followed Naruto into the main room, Inner-Sakura chimed in, **'Dammit! I was so close to finally getting him. You had him, in the palm of your hand, Why!'**

'Shut up, Naruto wouldn't do anything like that, not now anyway. He may be the number one ninja at surprising people, but he can also be a gentleman at times.'

**'Well then, we'll just have change that then won't we.'**

'Damn straight!'

"Sakura-chan, are you okay, you spaced out there for a minute."

Sakura quickly waved her hand in front of her, "Of course, I'm fine, hahaha."

"Okay then," Naruto just stared at her, and scratched the back of his head.

* * *

Kakashi sat at a table of one of the new restaurants, waiting for a late lunch, and reading his copy of Icha Icha Paradise. He looked up and noticed Shino walking down the street reading one of the books as well, and smiled. 'Ahhh, finally other people are beginning to appreciate this fine literature.'

Kakashi then noticed his two students, well former students, coming out of a clothing story. Sakura tossed what looked like Naruto's old orange clothes into a nearby dumpster, and Naruto was now wearing the clothes he wore back at the festival. Naruto was carrying tons of bags, all full of clothes Kakashi assumed.

"Yo!" Sakura turned and noticed her sensei.

"Kakashi-sensei! Come on Naruto, lets go get something to eat." She had to drag Naruto because he couldn't see due to the fact that the bags of clothes were piled higher than he was. Sakura quickly sat down, and Naruto quickly dropped the bags and sat next to her.

"New clothes Naruto?" Kakashi eyed him suspiciously.

"H-Hai...Yeah, two..of the b-bags are mine." Naruto finally managed to huff out, exhausted from being drug from store to store carrying all of those bags. "All the rest are Sakura-chans." Kakashi nodded his head, "Ah, I thought as much."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sakura asked, a vein started to pulse just above her eye.

"Nothing, nothing at all." Kakashi said quickly, waving his arms in front of him.

A waitress came up to take their orders, and Sakura noticed that she was staring at Naruto...HER Naruto. As the waitress left she winked at Naruto, and Naruto had to grab and hold Sakura down to keep her from going after the waitress.

"That dirty little whore...How dare she!" She said through clenched teeth.

"Calm down Sakura-chan...It's okay, I love you, not her."

"Well, okay. But if she does that again, I'LL BREAK HER LIKE A TWIG!"

Kakashi laughed as Naruto sweat dropped at her declaration.

As they were waiting for their food, they were joined by Neji, Lee, Hinata, Kiba, and Ino, Chouji, and Tenten. The first thing they noticed was that Lee no longer had thick eyebrows, they had been...waxed.

Sakura looked shocked, and it took all she had to keep from laughing, "Lee-kun, what happened?"

"Neji defeated more ANBU soldiers than I did, so..."

"So according to his rule, he had to let me wax his eyebrows." Neji smiled, quite enjoying what was happening. The boys quickly sat down, while the girls grabbed Sakura and quickly ran away. Naruto just watched as they left.

"Well, guess I'm stuck taking the clothes home..." He turned back around to the table and noticed that all the guys, even Kakashi-sensei, were leaning in close.

"So...Naruto, fill us in on your little sleep over."

* * *

"Come on forehead, give us the juicy details. We've all seen that solid body of his, tell us what it feels like."

"Well, we haven't gotten that far."

"Why not, you've got him wrapped around your little finger."

Tenten quickly put her arm around Sakura, "Come on, you're the only one who is still a virgin."

"What! You're kidding. Ino, you and Chouji, Ino nodded her head, Tenten, you and Neji Tenten held up a peace sign and even you Hinata!

Hinata blushed, "Y-yes, me and Kiba-kun."

"So come on forehead," All the girls looked towards the table where Naruto was setting. "Look at him, one of the most powerful ninja I've ever met, probably going to be Hokage someday, and lets face it. He's just hot."

"Well..."

* * *

"So come on, did you score or not?" Kiba elbowed Naruto in the ribs.

"No, I didn't."

"Come on Naruto-kun. You can tell us, we're your friends." Lee said, his newly waxed eyebrows pleading.

"I'm being honest, really."

Kakashi looked at everybody, "I think he's telling the truth."

Chouji slapped Naruto on the back, "Don't worry Naruto, your time will come."

Naruto looked at Chouji, "Wait, so you mean that you (Naruto points to Chouji), and you (Neji) and you (Kiba) and even you (Lee) have..."

"That's right!" Lee smiled triumphantly.

Kakashi stared for a moment at Lee, and Neji answered his unasked question.

"Lee fell to a girl that beat him in taijutsu."

"Yosh, her youthful spirit was simply amazing in fighting and in..." Neji quickly put his hand over Lee's mouth.

"I think that's enough."

"Face it Naruto, you're the only one at this table who is still a virgin." Kiba said, Naruto slumped his shoulders. "But don't worry, when it happens it will be amazing. Like with me and Hinata, she may be shy in public but man is she a freak in private." Kiba laughed to himself, but stopped when he sensed a strong desire to kill.

Kiba turned and looked at Neji, veins appearing around Neji's eyes. "What did you say about my cousin..."

"Now, c-calm down N-neji. C-c-can't we t-talk this over?"

"You'll pay for disrespecting the Hyuugas like this."

"Oh...my...god!"

Kiba jumped up and quickly ran away screaming, Neji right on his heels, Lee and Chouji quickly followed.

"Bye, Naruto-kun. Remember, don't give up."

Hinata looked up and saw Kiba running from Neji, "Oh god, Neji's going after Kiba-kun." Hinata quickly ran off after them, with Tenten right behind her.

"Well, I guess girl talk is over, see ya forehead. They might need a medic-nin to tend to Kiba's injuries."

Sakura stood there for a moment before turning to go back to the table where Naruto was.

Kakashi put his hand on Naruto's shoulder, noticing he was still down. "Don't worry Naruto, everything will be fine. When the time is right, it will happen. It's not just something that you go and give to anybody. No, this is the ultimate act of love, made to share only with your special person. It connects you both on a spiritual level, connecting your hearts, washing away all trials troubles, regrets. It's like a new start for you both. And when the time comes, you'll know. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, thanks Kakashi-sensei." Naruto smiled at Kakashi, as Kakashi just ruffled his hair before leaving.

Sakura walked up to Naruto, and leaned over and kissed him, and Naruto just smiled.

"Come on Naruto-kun, lets get home and put our clothes up, and just relax. We need to take it easy, because tomorrow Jiraiya-sama is going to brief us on our mission to save you." She tapped Naruto on the end of the nose before walking towards the Hokage tower.

Naruto watched her sway her hips as she walked, and sighed as he picked up the bags and began to follow her. 'When the time comes I'll know it...right.' Naruto quickly shook his head as he followed his girlfriend.

**(A/N):** Well, there it is, another chapter. And as I said, I'll give you a hint of the next chapter. They go to the Ichidou no nai (Shrine of the dead), to perform the blood ritual like the ancients did, in order to summon Shinigami, and...who is the, the Yondaime! Why is he here? Well, I know, and you'll just have to wait and see. I'll try to update as soon as I can, so until then. Peace to you all.


	11. The Black Forest part 1

Well guys, I know what you're thinking "What took me so long to update" right. Well, between me taking 19 hrs and having a lot of homework (a lot for someone of my abilities anyway), being sick, preparing for exams, and lots of other stuff, it was just really hard to find the time to write. Plus, I wasn't sure how I wanted to do this chapter, or where to end it. I had a few ideas, but, you can't use 'em all. So, this is what I decided on. So, I hope you enjoy what I wrote, and with that I'll leave you guys to read the chapter.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto

**Chapter 10:** The Black Forest part I

Sasuke woke up to the sound of someone knocking on his bed chambers. He sat up, breaking free from the grip the two sound kunoichi had on him. He looked at the two briefly, before turning his attention to the door.

"Enter" A chuunin walked through the door, and abruptly stopped as one of the kunoichi quickly pinned him to the wall, taking no opportunity to cover her naked body. The chuunin paled, afraid he might die, and also staring at the body of the kunoichi that had him at the end of a kunai. He turned his gaze to the Otokage, and noticed the smirk on the kage's lips. The other kunoichi had woken up, and currently had her arms draped around the kage's shoulders.

"Well, what is so important that you would have to disturb me?"

The chuunin swallowed the lump in his throat, quite loudly. "We just got word from Kabuto-sama, final preparations are being made for the teleportation jutsu."

"Very well, I will deal with it later. You are dismissed." The kunoichi withdrew the kunai, freeing the chuunin, and licked the little bit of blood from the tip. The chuunin backed out of the room, tripping before breaking off in a run down the hallway.

Sasuke smiled, watching the kunoichi walk back towards the large bed in a seductive manner. He grabbed the kunoichi as she reached the bed and pulled her into a painful kiss, one hard enough to bruise the lips.'Being Otokage has its advantages. Besides, I do need to restore my clan.'

* * *

A band of travelers stopped at an oasis, exhausted from their long journey through the deserts of the Wind country. They quickly removed the hoods from the tan cloaks covering their bodies. There were six travelers, well, technically there were five and one prisoner: Kakashi, Jiraiya, Sakura, Naruto, Lee, and Danzou.

Kakashi quickly sat down under a palm tree, and pulled out his favorite book. He looked up at Jiraiya, who was currently dealing with Danzou.

"You could at least give me a drink of water." Even though he was physically paralyzed, he still acted with a defiant and arrogant attitude. And Jiraiya was quickly losing patience.

"Sure...Whatever you say." Jiraiya grabbed the man and quickly tossed him into the small lake of water. He then turned and met Kakashi's stare. "What?" Kakashi quickly returned to his book.

"Don't tell me your still bitter because I'm not going to be writing any more books." Kakashi snorted in response.

Jiraiya sat down underneath another tree and leaned his head against it. He turned to watch Lee as he dragged Danzou out of the water. Danzou coughed and swore and Jiraiya and quickly turned his frustrations to Lee. Lee ignored him and quickly turned his attention to Jiraiya.

"Please don't do that Jiraya-sama. We need him alive in order to save Naruto-kun."

Jiraiya laughed and quickly turned to find the other two. Naruto was wearing his new clothes (the outfit I described in the earlier chapters), and Sakura was currently checking him for injuries. Without the Kyuubi healing him anymore, there was a chance that the wounds which Sakura had tended to the day before they left could open under harsh conditions. He smiled as he remembered the day they had left.

_--flashback--_

_Jiraiya stood at the gates with Lee, Kakashi, Tsunade, Sakura, Naruto, and Danzou was bound up and sitting beside him. Tsunade was lecturing Naruto on how he wasn't a part of this mission, and Sakura stood next to her sensei nodding her head._

"_Now listen to me Naruto, they are you're guards. Under absolutely NO circumstances are you to do anything. We don't know what the Kyuubi is capable of, and until this is resolved you are not an active shinobi." Naruto's jaw dropped to the floor._

"_But Obaa-chan-"_

"_Don't Obaa-chan me you little brat, I mean it. Kakashi, Sakura, and Lee are going to take good care of you."_

"_**Damn Right!" **Inner-Sakura yelled while pumping her fist in the air. Sakura just rolled her eyes._

"_Though I don't know about your team leader." Tsunade smirked and looked back at her "companion." She laughed as she saw Kakashi on his knees, pleading with the white haired Sannin._

"_Pleeease! You can't do this to me. You can't stop writing Icha Icha Paradise...I'LL DO ANYTHING!"_

"_I'm sorry Kakashi, but I've lost my inspiration, my motivation. Besides, all the notes that I had for the next volume were...burned by Tsunade-hime."_

"_WHAAAAT!" Kakashi cried, tears streaming down from his visible eye, before passing out._

_Tsunade walked up to Jiraya coyly, "You know, you could have broken it to him a little easier."_

_Jiraiya sighed, "That was really hard, it was like telling a kid that Santa Claus wasn't real."_

"_WHAAAT!" Jiraiya and Tsunade turned to see Lee staring at them, crying and confused._

_Jiraiya sweat dropped, "I think we should get going." Tsunade nodded, and she quickly grabbed the big man, and lifted him in the air. To anyone else, it looked like Tsunade was threatening his life, but really..._

_Tsunade leaned next to Jiraiya ear and whispered, 'Please...be careful.' Before kissing him gently on the cheek._

_She let him go and he fell to the ground, and he got up and quickly dusted himself off. "Same old Tsunade, I will...I promise." Tsunade smiled as Jiraiya turned to address his group._

"_I'll carry Danzou, Sakura, you stay and monitor Naruto."_

"_Hai." Sakura said, Naruto just stood there with his arms crossed, a smug/defiant look on his face. "Stupid Obaa-chan." Sakura quickly hit Naruto on the head knocking him to the floor. "Don't talk about Hokage-sama like that baka."_

"_And Lee, you carry Kakashi until he wake up."_

"_H-Hai...J-Jiraiya-sama." Lee wiped his eyes crudely with his arm. Jiraiya could have sworn he heard Lee mumble something like, 'Stupid Ero-Sennin, he is too real.' Jiraiya laughed to himself._

"_Alright, lets go." As they headed out the gates, Jiraiya turned one last time to wave at Tsunade._

_Tsunade just stared as the gates closed. 'Please, let them be ok.'_

_--End Flashback--_

Jiraiya was broken from his musings by his pupil, who was now eye level with him and waving his hand in front of his face.

"Oi, Ero-Sennin, ERO-SENNIN!"

Jiraiya placed his hand on Naruto's face and quickly pushed him out of the way.

"Everybody gather round, it's time I filled you in on where we're going." Everyone gathered around quickly, except for Danzou, who was currently unconscious under a tree. Apparently a coconut fell from one of the palm trees and, well...hit him.

"Now pay attention...that means you Naruto," Jiraiya started, Naruto folded his arms but obeyed. "Our destination is in those mountains over there."

"I thought we were going to a shrine?" Sakura quickly elbowed Naruto in the ribs. "Baka, he said listen." Jiraiya quickly rolled his eyes before continuing.

Jiraya pointed towards the mountains, and the tall red arch that seemed to cover the entrance to a cave. (The cave is only 60 yards away, and it's big, so it's easy to see.) "Inside that cave, is the Ichidou no nai (Shrine of the Dead), so from now on we need to be very careful."

Lee raised a thinner eyebrow at the Sannin, "Why? Are there enemies in there?"

"Well, you could say that. There is one obstacle that we'll have to get by in order to approach the shrine. We'll have to go through the Black Forest."

Naruto spoke up again, "A forest, in a cave? That's strange...what's so bad about the forest?" All the shinobi waited patiently for the Sannin to answer.

"At first glance the forest looks dead, that there's nothing really intimidating about it. You can see through the forest no problem. That is, until you enter into the forest. Once you step into the trees, everything immediately goes black. It becomes so dark that's it's impossible to see anything. You won't even be able to see your hand in front of your face." Jiraiya looked over and saw Naruto staring intently at his hand. 'God, how did I ever get an apprentice so dense?'

"That doesn't sound too bad Jiraiya-sama." Lee spoke up, waxed eyebrows raised in contemplation.

"Well, it wouldn't be if that were the only thing that was in there. Once you're in the forest, you're subject to the things that live in there as well. Things that crave the bodies of...living creatures."

Naruto, finally brought from his musings, stared at his sensei, "Things? Wh-what kind of things?"

"That I can't tell you, every person that enters that cursed forest sees something different. It's up to you to figure out if what you're seeing is a creature or not. All I can say is be careful. Well, we need to go, so let's be off."

The shinobi stood up and quickly left for the entrance to the cave.

* * *

"Are we there yet? We've been walking for hours." A vein appeared on Naruto's head, and he quickly dropped Danzou from his back.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS 'WE' STUFF!? I've been the one walking and you've just been wining and complaining!"

"Calm down Naruto, he's just trying to get under your skin." Sakura put a consoling hand on her boyfriend's shoulder.

"Well...IT'S WORKING!" Sakura smacked Naruto in the head, knocking him to the floor.

"Baka! Don't raise your voice to me, I didn't do anything."

"S-sorry Sakura-chan."

"Quiet you two, we're here."

The shinobi stood at the clearing, looking at the sight in front of them. They were in a huge cavern, that was lit by a bright red light. The red light was coming from crystals scattered throughout the cave. What was actually causing the light was the molten rock (lava/magma) that was being held back behind the crystals. The first thing that came to the shinobi's mind was they were truly in the heart of Hell itself.

The ground, they thought, was just sand like out in the desert, but upon further inspection they found it was actually ash. And there in front of them, in a twisted sort of elegance, was the Ichidou no Nai, the Shrine of the Dead. It looked much like a stepped pyramid, and at the top there seemed to be altars. Around the Shrine was the dreaded forest: black trees seemingly charred by hellfire, twisted into odd shapes.

They started walking towards the forest. It looked harmless enough. The red light, which made everything it touched turn a dark shade of crimson (like blood), was bright enough to see, and they could see through the forest to the base of the Shrine. At least, until they entered the forest. Once they did, everything went black.

* * *

"Dammit! I can't see anything!" yelled Naruto. He quickly waved his hand in front of his face. 'Yup...definitely can't see it.'

Naruto heard a rustling behind him, he quickly turned to see what it was. He saw a light, and slowly walked towards it, kunai in hand.

"What...no...it can't be..." tears started to form in the corners of Naruto's eyes. He saw Sasuke...Sasuke was here, and he was kissing Sakura.

"Hello dobe..."

"Wh-what's going on!?"

"Oh, Sasuke-kun came back to me. I don't need you anymore." She traced her fingers around Sasuke's lips. "You were just a place holder." She turned and glared at Naruto. "Sasuke-kun, let's just kill him and get it over with."

Sasuke smiled and unsheathed his sword. Naruto fell to his knees, tears staining his face, and awaited his fate.

* * *

Sakura quickly tried to get her bearings straight. She had just been with Naruto and the others when they walked into the forest. Everything went dark, and they heard something move. The next thing she knew, she was alone. Sakura began walking with her arms out in front of her slowly, until she saw a light in front of her.

She quickly ran towards it, and what she saw horrified her. It was Sasuke. He looked up at her with crimson eyes and smiled. Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Lee laid dead at his feet. Naruto was in his arms, and Sasuke's katana was at Naruto's throat. She began crying.

"What's wrong Sakura? I thought you loved me. But here I find you with the dobe. Well, no more." Sasuke quickly ran the sword across Naruto's throat, and Sakura watched Naruto fall lifeless to the ground.

"no..."

Sasuke walked towards Sakura, slowly. A frightening smirk on his face. "What's wrong Sakura...? It's me, Sasuke-kun."

"No...NO! I was just a shallow child...a-and you were just some spoiled pretty boy who didn't pay attention to anyone. Naruto...he was my first true love..."

Sasuke stopped in front of Sakura, and she felt like her very life force was being drained. She looked up at Sasuke, into his cold crimson eyes. She was ready to die. Without Naruto, her life had no meaning. Sakura began crying harder as she sat on the ground. Though her tears quickly gave way to anger. 'No, I'm not going to let him get away with this.'

Sakura quickly looked up, and started to focus her chakra, preparing to finish off the traitor once and for all. As she began to focus and to limit her chakra, she noticed that Sasuke started to fade slightly. Sakura furrowed her brow, 'What's going on, that only happens when it's...wait...it's genjutsu!'

"KAI!" Sakura screamed, and Sasuke vanished, and in his place was a...a tree? 'Wait, the tree's moving!' Sakura could only just stare at the strange phenomenon. That's when she realized there were vines wrapped around her body, and she was bleeding. What she noticed next though, was what really unnerved her. She noticed that the tree was absorbing the blood.

'The trees, they're what Jiraiya-sama was talking about. They use genjutsu to attract prey and bleed them dry as they suffer from their worst fear.'

Sakura quickly tore away from the vines and sent a chakra induced punch into the tree, shattering it; spraying dust and ash everywhere. The light that she saw earlier quickly faded away, and soon she was immersed in darkness again. After a while she noticed a second light, and heard a very familiar voice.

"Wh-what's going on!"

Sakura quickly ran towards the light, only thinking one thing, 'Naruto, please be ok.'

* * *

Naruto cried to himself as he waited for Sasuke to finish him off. Without her, he just didn't want to go on. 'How? How could she do that to me? I...I loved her...'

"Naruto!"

'Wow, how pathetic am I? Even when she's with Sasuke, I still think about her calling out to me.'

"NARUTO!"

'Wait...someone is calling me. Sakura?'

Naruto opened his eyes and saw that Sasuke and Sakura were still standing in front of him, and after a few seconds they both exploded into tiny splinters. Naruto tried to move his arms to shield his eyes but found that he couldn't move. He looked down and saw that there were vines wrapped tightly around him, cutting into his skin. The last thing he saw before it went completely dark again was Sakura running towards him.

"Umph! S-Sakura? Is that you?" Naruto barely managed to choke out as Sakura wrapped him in a bone crushing hug.

"Naruto...I-I thought you were d-dead..." Naruto smiled, and quickly tried to calm his girlfriend.

"It's okay Sakura-chan, I'm fine." Sakura let Naruto go, and quickly tried to remove the vines that were tightly wrapped around him. While she was doing this, she heard rustling, and the sound of wood creaking.

"Dammit...more trees are closing in. Naruto, we have to get out of here!"

"Uhhh...Right."

* * *

"KONOHA SENPUU!" Lee twirled through the air and quickly knocked another tree out of the way. He bent over to quickly catch his breath. Lee had been running as fast as he could through the forest, trying to get out. Once it went black, he made a mental note to just run in a straight line. 'A straight line is the shortest path between any two points.' Lee thought to himself. But he quickly realized that, running in the dark, a person can get lost very easily.

"What's with all the trees...?" It was weird...shortly after his comrades disappeared, he found that the trees were alive. Well, that's not entirely true, he didn't find out until after his own little incident.

_--flashback--_

_Lee ran as fast as he could, completely focused on maintaining a straight path. Until he suddenly ran into another tree. Lee stood up from the ground, a large red mark on his face, tears coming from his eyes._

_'Owowowow...where did that tree come from? I was sure that there was nothing in front of me. It's like it just, moved there at the last second...At least, I think it did.'_

_Lee scratched his head and thought for a moment, when he noticed a light coming from somewhere up ahead. He slowly made his way towards the light, and stopped suddenly when he saw...Gai-sensei._

"_GAI-SENSEI!" Lee ran towards his green clad sensei, only to be stopped cold by his sensei's stare._

"_Lee...you mean nothing to me...you're nothing but a pathetic excuse of a shinobi not fit enough to wear that flak vest."_

_Lee started crying..."b-but...G-Gai-sensei..."_

_--end flashback--_

Lee wiped away the tears threatening to fall from his eyes again. 'No, that wasn't Gai-sensei. Gai-sensei was proud of me, he would never say things like that.' It was true. After taking so much verbal abuse, something in Lee just snapped. He jumped up and attacked the so called Gai and destroyed him with one swift kick. That's when he noticed it was a tree, and he noticed the cuts on his body, and the vines laying around his side.

The last thing Lee saw before the light faded away, was the vines and branches of the surrounding trees slowly creeping closer to him. He then realized that he needed to get out of the forest, and he began running as fast as he could (though still trying to avoid running into trees) destroying the evil flora whenever it got in his way.

'I have to get out of here, I just don't like moving trees. Especially moving trees that look like Gai-sensei.'

* * *

Kakashi looked at his surroundings with the Sharingan. He could faintly see shadows and vague outlines of trees, but nothing really out of the ordinary. He slowly walked along, avoiding the various branches and bushes that were in his way, just quietly thinking to himself.'

'I hope the others are okay...man, it sure feels weird walking on ash...I wish I could read, but I don't think I should use the Sharingan for that, or maybe...' Before Kakashi could finish the thought, he noticed a bright light ahead of him in the forest. He quickly hid behind the tree before slowly making his way towards the light. What Kakashi saw shocked him; scarred him, down to the deepest parts of his soul. It was Obito, and Rin, both lying lifeless on the ground. And standing beside their bodies, was his sensei, the Yondaime.

The blond shinobi looked up and locked eyes with Kakashi. "How...could you let this happen?"

"W-what...What are you talking about? W-wait, just hold on. You're all dead, this can't be real."

"Can't it Kakashi? Take a look at the bodies on the ground here, and tell me that this isn't real." Kakashi looked at Obito, the right side of his body crushed, bleeding, bones piercing through the flesh. His eyes lay open, staring at him, one bearing a sharingan much like Kakashi's own, the other empty. Kakashi fell to his knees, tears threatening to fall.

"No...I-I put this all behind me...I buried this part a long time ago!"

"Did you Kakashi?" Kakashi looked up and noticed that the Yondaime had moved closer to him. "You may have moved on and forgotten about Obito. But what about her?" Kakashi turned his glance towards the body next to Obito's. 'Her? What about her?'

"After Obito's death, you really didn't take into account her feelings, did you? Taken by your own grief, your own guilt, you didn't take time to notice that she was suffering just as much as you were. She was fine for a while, but the heart can only take so much, and she sought to end that suffering." Kakashi looked again and noticed the kunai sticking in her chest.

"No..." Kakashi looked up and locked eyes with his sensei, tears now openly falling. The Yondaime just stared at him with cold, indifferent, blue eyes. As Kakashi looked at him with his Sharingan, he noticed that the Yondaime suddenly phased out a bit, becoming somewhat transparent, before returning to normal. Kakashi's expression became hard again, all signs that he was upset disappearing.

'That only happens when the Sharingan reveals a Genjutsu.' Kakashi closed his eyes and focused, before opening them and yelling "KAI!"

The jutsu quickly disappeared, and Kakashi stared at the sight before him. He watched as the tree slowly made it's way towards him. As he watched, he also noticed that he was...trapped. (**A/N: **The vines again, strange how they all got caught, isn't it.) He noticed the vines around him slowly absorb the blood pouring from fresh cuts. Kakashi looked at the tree again, chakra began surging in his hand as the air slowly filled with the sound of chirping birds.

'Dammit...I have to get out of here.'

"RAIKIRI!"

**(A/N:)** Well, I think we'll call that good for now, I'm happy with how the chapter turned out. Hopefully you are. Apparently people are getting into the story (I hope) because I noticed a had quite a few alerts, favs, and a lot of hits. But not too many people review. So, if it's not to much to ask, just drop me a review. Any ideas, or opinions of the chapter, helpful criticism, etc. is greatly appreciated. So, until next time (which I'll try to make it soon), peace be with you. Oh, and happy belated Valentines Day.


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